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Judicial corruption to be reduced
Accra, Nov. 08,
Ghanadot/GNA - The Chief Justice Mrs Justice Georgina
Theodora Wood on Wednesday said the Judicial Council would
use all available resources at its disposal to ensure that
Judicial corruption was reduced to the barest minimum.
She said the judiciary would also draw knowledge and
experiences of judiciaries worldwide and the integrity of
best practices and benchmarks of other institutions to
enhance its image.
Chief Justice Mrs Wood was speaking at the launch of Ghana
Integrity Initiative's (GII) report on "Corruption
Monitoring Exercise in Ghana" in Accra.
The report based on administering of questionnaires to
Judicial staff, judges, lawyers, litigants in Accra/Tema and
Kumasi aimed at finding out to which extent judicial
corruption was close to reality and find remedy to the
canker.
The report concentrated on cases on land and commercial
litigation.
Chief Justice Mrs Wood said corruption posed a threat to
judicial legitimacy and limited their capacity to
effectively fulfil their constitutional mandate.
She observed that corruption had wrecked the continent and
urged all and sundry to dedicate themselves to fighting the
canker.
The Chief Justice said she found it a "painful duty" to
address the launch of a report that indicted the judiciary
and concluded that the phenomenon of judicial corruption was
not a perception but real.
She noted that there were many honourable men and women on
the bench who had over the years served the country
tirelessly and had not relented themselves to any untoward
practices.
Chief Justice Mrs Wood said there were a few of them who had
dragged the name of the Judiciary in the mud but urged the
hardworking ones not to "lose heart over the report which
unfortunately has put everyone in one basket".
She reminded judges that high integrity was crucial to their
existence and survival of constitutional democracy.
The Chief Justice told the judges that the Government had
improved the conditions of the Judiciary adding: "This gives
no excuse whatsoever for any judge to misconduct himself or
herself on the basis of poor conditions of service."
She said she had already started enforcing rigorously the
rule and these would be based purely on integrity, industry,
independence and not on some other consideration such as
relationship, friendship or kinship.
She appealed to the Government to address the service
conditions of the staff of the Judicial Service and said to
earn promotion and appointment to the bench, integrity was
going to be used as the number one criterion.
Chief Justice Mrs Wood stressed the need to develop an
effective and comprehensive integrity programme and action
plan and asked for cooperation from all.
She indicated further that the Judiciary was into
negotiations with an international institution for
sponsorship and training in Judicial Integrity and Ethics
for judges and all level of staff.
"Violation of and non-compliance with our laws and our code
of conduct would not be taken lightly, but be appropriately
dealt with."
To dissuade court officials and litigants who were
determined from corrupting the judicial system, she said the
Judiciary had designed brochures and posters with clear
mission and ethics based value statements aimed at
discouraging the practice of bribe payment to judges and
court staff.
Chief Justice Mrs Wood entreated members of the Ghana Bar
Association and the public to desist from corrupting judges
and staff.
Dr Audrey Gadzekpo, GII Board Chairperson noted that issues
about corruption remained controversial as most Ghanaians
believed that it existed but were not certain about its
dimension with regard to its prevalence in governmental
institutions and agencies.
She explained that GII chose the judiciary because it was
one of the most important institutions in the fight against
corruption adding "the judicial power of the state remains a
key resource in the development and enforcement of
anti-corruption policies.
"A corrupt judiciary cannot preside over the prosecution of
other corrupt public official," she said.
However, Dr Gadzekpo said to be able to hold other public
officials accountable, the judiciary itself must possess the
requisite moral and ethical integrity as well as financial,
technical and human resources.
Dr Mechthild Runger, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ)
Programme Manager on Good Governance said prevention of
corruption was not a matter of prosecuting individual
perpetrators, as many named underlying causes were
structural and institutional in nature.
GNA
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