According to the Chief Justice, the adjudicatory arm of government is often relegated to the background, with considerations for funding the operations of the service often treated as an afterthought.

She called for the Judiciary to be given the attention it deserves given the crucial role it plays in the society.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Kukpy1AwfyYuSe0RnUuyqKUbOROD0C4I”]Her Ladyship Sophia Akuffo made these comments at the 2018 GIMPA Law Conference in Accra on Thursday.

“It is important that the financing of the judiciary should be given serious consideration. We cannot continue to be some pathetic backroom part of governance where after everything has been served out and enjoyed then we get the scraps. That cannot happen!” the Chief Justice fumed.

‘Judiciary most frugal institution’

Her Ladyship Sophia Akuffo further indicated that the judiciary, when adequately resourced, will carry out its core mandate of administering justice effectively.

In her view, calls for the judiciary to be adequately resourced are borne out of genuine concern, given that the institution does not require a lot of funds to operate efficiently.

“The government that is responsible for our court buildings, the High Court, the Circuit Court, Court of Appeals, Supreme Court and so on and so forth, if they really take a look, they will see that we are the most frugal of the governance institutions and when we say we need, we do need so that we will be able to run and administer justice to the people of Ghana with full competence.”

‘No money syndrome’

The ‘no money syndrome’ appears to be a long-standing challenge the judiciary has been battling with for years.

In 2014, the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) asked government to immediately release funds to the Judicial Service.

The GBA in a statement signed by its National President, Nene Amegatcher had stated that the judicial service has been paralyzed by lack of funds.

”The Ghana Bar Association notes with regret that despite the fact that the constitution guarantees financial autonomy to the judiciary, the institution virtually has to be on its knees begging government to release its subvention.

”The situation has been worsened by the fact that the judiciary has not received even the inadequate budgetary provision for over a year,” a statement from the Association said at the time.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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However, he said, if such resources are not efficiently managed it could possibly erode democratic accountability as well as serve as a basis for conflict and social strife.

Dr Manteaw said this at a dissemination workshop organized by World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) at Daboase in the Western Region.

He said countries like Angola, Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo were a few examples where poor resource management has resulted in social strife.

Dr Manteaw said many natural resource rich developing countries score poorly on good governance and are found in the bottom third of the World Bank’s composite governance indicator rankings and also the bottom third of Transparency International’s annual ranking of countries by perceptions of corruption.

He said GHEITI originated from the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) with the main aim of resolving problems in the extractive sector, adding that the initiative was grounded in a shared belief that the prudent exploitation of natural resource wealth would provide the basis for sustainable economic growth and contribute to sustainable development.

Madam Rachel Fosuwa Sarpong, the District Coordinating Director for Wassa East, said the dissemination workshop was timely to inform key stakeholders on the effects and benefits of natural resources.

She said the workshop would also promote popular participation which is a very important tool in ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of revenue from mining resources.

Madam Sarpong said in the past revenue accrued from extractive resources were used for recurrent instead of capital expenditure which resulted in poor development outcomes.

She said GHEITI is around to promote the prudent exploitation of natural resource wealth, ensure that citizens benefited from the natural resource extraction and also provide citizens the opportunity for public debate on how revenue from extractive resource should be used.

Mr Kwaku Boamponsem, an official of Boas and Associates, said GHEITI’s objectives could only be met through enhanced transparency of funds in relation to payments, receipts disbursements and utilization.

He said payments and receipts considered under the 2014 reports included Mineral Right Licenses, Ground rent, property rates and Mineral royalties as well as corporate taxes, dividends and environmental permitting fees.

Mr Boamponsem said the 2014 GHEITI reconciliation report indicates an amount of GH¢ 972,092,848.00 as government receipts whiles company payments was at GH¢972, 787,529.00.

He said corporate tax was the largest of the mining revenue streams received by the government in 2014 whiles Grounds Rent receipts were significant for the first time in the reconciliation process.

Madam Abena Acheampong, the country Director for World University Service of Canada (WUSC), said WUSC is a leading Canadian international development organization dedicated to improving education, employment and empowerment opportunities for youth, women, refugees, and other marginalized people around the world.

She said WUSC was currently working in partnership with West African Governance and Economic Sustainability (WAGES) to identify business opportunities for communities and strengthen local and national businesses.

Madam Acheampong WUSC and WAGES were jointly implementing initiatives in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Ghana where they are currently working in Bogoso and Wassa East.

The Country Director said one of the objectives of WUSC and WAGES was to give people in mining areas alternative livelihood so that life could be meaningful to the people after mining activities have concluded in the area.

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Source: GNA

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