The Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, has lamented the judiciary’s lack of financial independence, claiming that it is negatively impacting the judiciary’s job and, ultimately, justice delivery.
Justice Torkornoo, who was speaking at the 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association of Magistrates and Judges Ghana (AMJG) yesterday, said although the 1992 Constitution protected the independence of the judiciary, the service had no control over its financial administration.
Quoting Article 127 (1) of the 1992 Constitution, the Chief Justice said the Constitution had categorically insulated all activities of the judiciary, including its financial administration, from external control to protect its independence due to the sensitivity of its functions.
“How can we be an independent arm of government if we do not have control over our finances? Is the constitutionally guaranteed institutional independence of the judiciary only a mirage?
Can the institutional independence of the judiciary be asserted when we need clearance to engage staff, clearance to access money generated from court services, and clearance to procure any asset to do our work?” she queried.
The two-day 2023 AGM is on the theme: “A Financially Independent and Accountable Judiciary: The Key to Effective Justice Delivery”.
It was attended by judges and magistrates from across the country, including Justices of the Supreme Court, and other notable personalities in the legal fraternity such as the Attorney-General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame; the President of the Ghana Bar Association, Yaw Acheampong Boafo, and the Director of the Ghana School of Law, Barima Oppong Kodie, aka Yaw Oppong.
Justice Torkornoo said inadequate financing and the lack of financial autonomy had been thorny issues that had bedeviled the judiciary way before she joined the bench as a Justice of the High Court in 2004.
She referenced the recent GBA conference in Cape Coast where President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo mentioned an increase in the financial support for anti-graft institutions to tackle corruption but said such a monumental increment had unfortunately not been extended to the Judiciary.
“While funding for certain institutions had been increased in hundreds of percentages, the percentage increase for the judiciary was noted to be a little over three percent. The level of financial support for our work ought to increase exponentially not only in quantum but also in scope,” she said.
The Chief Justice promised that she would make the quest for financial independence of the judiciary a cornerstone of her administration as part of her overall vision to build a modernized judiciary to better serve the people of the country.
The A-G, Mr Dame, said although the Constitution was explicit in guaranteeing financial autonomy for the judiciary, its implementation had been fraught with challenges due to budgetary constraints which affected other institutions of the state.
“As Minister of Justice, I undertake to ensure that the estimates of the administrative expenses of the Judiciary duly presented are duly protected and satisfied by the state, but this, of course, is subject to budgetary constraints,” he said.
