The chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, His lordship Justice Anin Yeboah on Tuesday, 15th November, 2022 commissioned a circuit court complex for the West Gonja Municipality to help in the delivery of justice in the area.
The facility which is a child friendly court is comprised of a courtroom, secretariat, accommodation for the judge, testifying room and a holding room where children ( victims ) are kept to be calmed down before moving to the testifying room for the hearing of their cases.
The facility was funded by the District Assemblies Common fund as part of its mandate of making key social services readily available to the people and supported by UNICEF.
Speaking at a ceremony at Damongo to commission the facility, the Chief Justice of the republic of Ghana, His Lordship Justice Anin Yeboah explained that, some few years ago, the idea of putting up such a facility was a distant dream but has come to a reality with brackets of those with modern court facilities to meet the justice delivery needs of the people of Damongo and it’s surrounding communities.
He added that, the provision of such a facility is predicated on the policy by the judicial service that, geographical location should no longer be a barrier to all citizens of social classes in accessing justice and that justice denied anywhere is totally inconsistent with the values of Ghana as a nation but regrettably said, this values are undermined by the luck of and stressingly boils it to most of their core structures as well as residents for justices and infrastructure.
The Chief Justice further explained that, the judiciary service is resolved to building a system of justice that ensures their litigants and sentiments of efficient timely and quality justice delivery so that the people do not travel far afield to access Justice.
He revealed that, the judiciary together with it’s partner, UNICEF has provided the requisite facilities for the newly built court thus designating it as a child friendly, gender based violence court to additionally handle cases which pertain to abuse against women, men and particularly children.
According to him, the child friendly gender based Court will hear cases falling within the jurisdiction of the circuit court which is expected to prioritize cases involving domestic and gender based violence against women, men and particularly children adding that, the court has been designed to provide the welcoming and friendly atmosphere for child victims and women who are traumatized as a result of domestic and gender based abuse and are brought to testify without having direct contact with their perpetrators in the course of testifying.
His Lordship, Justice Anin Yeboah used the occasion to call on the court staff to continue to exhibit a high level of professionalism as they carry out their duties bearing in mind that, the continuous patronage of the court for legal redress on gender based violent cases especially by the citizenry is largely dependant on how they are treated in the court.
He reiterated on the need to treat everyone that comes to the court farely and equally no matter their background and whether the can speak the language the understand or not adding that, the facility will be nothing if the people through whom justice is dispensed are insensitive to the needs of the court as they will be judged by posterity if the fail in their mandate to dispense justice in an equitable manner to their people.
The Savannah Regional Minister, Hon. Saeed Muhazu Jibril who expressed his happiness over the inauguration of the new court in the West Gonja Municipal capital explained that, Damongo for so many years has been without a functional court hence the need for the facility and encouraged all to support the court and the judiciary to ensure the law is adhered to all the time.
He also called for the collaboration of all to support and patronize the court to make it meaningful and more importantly leverage upon it for the establishment of a High court because Damongo as a regional capital deserves it a high Court.
The Chief field officer of UNICEF at Tamale, Mr. Bhanu Pathak who joined the judicial service to inaugurate the first child friendly and gender based violence Court in the Savannah region said UNICEF is proud of it’s partnership with the judicial service for consistently demonstrating it’s commitment through the enormous reforms to address issues of sexual and gender based violence in the country.
The new court edifice is fittered with boreholes, solar power and a standby generator to ensure regular power supply and clean energy at all times to facilitate it’s effective running.
The inaugural ceremony was witness by many including heads of departments, the traditional Authorities, Assembly members from the West Gonja municipal Assembly, officials from the judicial services among others
Source: Padfm.com.gh/ Kumatey Gorden/0243531604
