Judiciary must not be seen as bias in setting timelines for cases – Pumpuni Asante
The Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Center for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD-Ghana), has urged the Judicial Service to review the time it takes to deliver verdicts on cases.
According to Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante, the court appears to be biased with the duration when it comes to the hearing of specific cases.
He believes some cases are deliberately prolonged whereas others are handled speedily.
“I think it is something that the Judiciary services has to have an engagement on because we have seen the treatment of cases in the ways the Supreme Court has handled different cases, particularly political cases. The James Quayson case for instance.
“There are a lot of cases that came involving decisions at parliament that were expedited. There were cases where the Attorney General is quickly producing a response to expedite the processes and in some cases, it drags its feet for a long time,” he said.
Speaking on Top Story on JoyFM, he explained that should the Judicial service fail to address some of these concerns the public might lose trust in the justice system.
“I think we have to address these things because it affects the delivery of Justice and the reputation of the judicial system if it is seen as it is not applied fairly and consistently,” he said on Wednesday.
Moving forward he advised that if for some reason there is a delay in the process, reasons for the delay must be communicated to litigants.
Dr Asante continued that the judiciary was one of the important arms of government that citizens trust to could keep the powers of the executive in check, therefore it was only right that the current system is fixed.
“If we undermine or the perception that the judiciary is not being fair in the way it treats cases, then it will affect all of us,” he said.
He seized the opportunity to charge the incoming Chief Justice to address this matter.
Dr Asante’s comments come on the back of the supreme court ruling declaring that the President’s directive that forced a former Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo to proceed on leave was unconstitutional.
The verdict of the case, however, came two years after it was filed, at a time when Mr Domelevo has already retired.
Responding to the question of whether he holds a similar view with some social media users that justice delayed is justice denied, he said “Yes, I mean with Mr Domelevo, yes, and of course, it robbed us of a real leader, somebody who is committed to anti-corruption and accountability and given our circumstances we need people like that.
“He would have inspired more public servants who might not be bold enough, if someone like that had continued to do his work to sanitise that system maybe, he would inspire others. We have lost all those opportunities.
He added that the delay did not serve Mr Domelevo well. Nonetheless, he was optimistic that the ruling would help check the powers of the executive.
Source: Ghana News
