Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo has announced that the nationwide Court of Appeal sittings will resume soon.
She explained that the nationwide sitting was initiated by her predecessor Kwasi Anin-Yeboah in order to make justice accessible to all manner of people across the country.
However, with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the arrangement was halted as part of efforts to control the spread of the virus.
With covid declared over, she said, the time has come for the initiative to resume.
Addressing journalists in Accra on Thursday, April 4, she said “We are reopening the court of appeal sittings around the country. When you go to the circuit court and any ruling or order is given and you want to appeal against it, either a civil matter or a noncriminal matter you appeal to the Court of Appeal. If it is a criminal matter you will appeal to the High Court. When you go to the high court you will appeal to the Court of Appeal and if you to go the Court of Appeal you will appeal to the Supreme Court.
“So when you have a Circuit Court in a town in Afram Plains, the circuit court in a town in Afram Plains or in Nkawkaw or in Denu, Nzema, Axim, a ruling or an order is given and they need to appeal, if the Court of Appeal is only in Accra you cannot be given access to justice.
“This is the reason why the Court of Appeal started sitting around the country, in Tamale, in Cape Coast, Ho, Kumasi, Koforidua and this had been going on for years, then came disruptive Covid.
“Because of Covid measures had to be put in place to reduce movement and under CJ AniN-Yeboah’s stewardship, we developed the virtual courts and the court of appeal. A number of judges were sent to Kumasi so we have a permanent sitting of the Court of Appeal in Kumasi. So now the northern part of the country has judges in Kumasi but still access to justice is hampered.
“Now Covid is gone, we have to resume.”
She added “Looking at the data, the cases emanating from the central and western regions were even more than cases emanating from the northern part of Ghana, so there is a real need to resume the sittings of the court of appeal in the central and western part of Ghana. The cases from the Volta and Eastern regions are lower, they are doing something of about 60 cases in a year.”