Justice Sector institutions have applauded the Case Tracking System (CTS) which is going to help ensure transparency in prosecuting criminal cases.
A Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, Justice Yonny Kulendi said the CTS would facilitate collaboration and coordination between the justice service institutions, enhance transparency and reduce the impact of corruption in the process of delivering justice.
Mr. Kulendi was speaking at a sensitization workshop on the USAID Justice Sector Support Activity organized for stakeholders in Kumasi. Participants were drawn from Civil Society Organizations, Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), and Justice Sector Institutions (JSIs) in the Ashanti regional capital.
He stated that the CTS will fast-track criminal cases while ensuring transparent and honest adjudication of disputes, which is the very foundation of democratic practice. ”The consent of the governed cannot be procured and maintained if they cannot trust the institutions that are meant to protect them and secure their rights,” he said.
The Executive Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Madam Mina Mensah augmented Mr. Kulendi’s statements saying that the CTS is meant to promote efficiency in handling criminal cases to ensure justice is served expeditiously to citizens.
She said the processes that citizens have to go through sometimes from their arrest till their fate is determined by the courts could be traumatic, hence the need for the CTS to improve justice delivery as a result of transparency in the process.
“We need to tackle the problem in a manner that is comprehensive. The problem is systemic and not the fault of an individual or any organization but the structures that we have in place,” she observed.
She courted the support of stakeholders to contribute to the success of the CTS as reforms carried out in the justice sector over the years have not yielded the desired results.
“If all of us decide that we are part of the solution so we all engage the system and there are problems, we all talk about it and make suggestions. We can only do this if we understand the system, are aware of it, and participate,” she implored the participants.
Representatives of key justice sector institutions including the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prison Service, Economic and Organized Crime Office, Legal Aid Commission, and Attorney General’s Department at the event called for the strengthening of the CTS to rid it of challenges impeding its effectiveness.