Focus on fast track court system

Getting a court case disposed off in Ghana has sometimes been very slow, making many Ghanians weary of the time it took to conclude a matter in the High Court. Characterised by long delays in the hearing of cases, interspersed with adjournments and improper handling of dockets, the court system generally lent truth to the old adage that "justice delayed is justice denied", officials in the country's Justice Department told IRIN. According to officials, many trial judges take notes in long-hand during court sessions and then give the notes to secretaries to type. Judgements and other orders of the court may take two weeks to a month to be ready for delivery, as they bounce back and forth between the court clerks, secretaries and the judges, the officials said. "Land cases or ordinary contract cases at the High courts here [in the capital, Accra] could take three to seven years and seven to 15 years respectively, or even more, to be disposed of," an official explained. "The backlog of cases was unbelievable," she added. Fast Track Courts After years of consideration and research, Ghana automated the three High Courts in Accra, on a pilot basis, in March 2001. Known as Fast Track Courts (FTCs), these three are computerised and work on a wireless local area network (LAN) with an internet connection, Administrative Secretary Kwesi Ainuson told IRIN on Friday. "Apart from the computers, the courts are fitted with microphones and recording machines, whose contents are later transcribed." The courts are soon to be fitted with stenographic machines, which "will actually allow for a computer assisted transcript system," he added. All employees at these courts have been trained on the use of the equipment and FTC judges, trained in the use of computers, have been provided with laptops. The courts have "breathed new life" into the country's judicial system and are a "sure way to faster delivery of justice" by eliminating delays in litigation, according to Ainuson. The objective of the fast-track courts system is to provide for a case to be processed and tried, and a judgement delivered, within six months of the day of filing. Since the trial judge is not bogged down with manual recording of court proceedings, he or she is expected to make a summary of the evidence as the trial progresses, and to conduct relevant research. Under the new system, he or she is expected to deliver a judgement within seven days of a trial ending. To ensure transparency, court proceedings are produced within 72 hours for interested parties, on payment of prescribed court fees. Records and case management are controlled by time limits, which are very rigidly enforced because trial periods are agreed upon in advance by the judge, lawyers and litigants. Once the trial commences, adjournments are hardly entertained except for unavoidable or "extremely cogent reasons". As far as practicable, the trial is expected to proceed from day to day. A high court judge to whom a case is assigned is obliged to spend 75 percent of the court time on the substantive trial and no more than 25 percent on motions. Priority cases at the FTCs Only subjects deemed to require urgent hearing were initially accepted for trial at the FTCs. These were cases involving investors (local and foreign), investment banks, election petitions, human rights, defamation, some elected commercial and industrial disputes and tax disputes, among others. To these were later added custody of children and maintenance cases, criminal cases involving substantial public money or considerable public interest and environmental cases involving mass threats to human lives. Some 195 cases have been registered for hearing by the FTCs and some 79 cases, or 62.9 percent, have been disposed of. The remaining are ripe for hearing, according to officials. There was a hitch in the operation of the courts in February when the Supreme Court of Ghana ruled that the fast-track courts were illegal. "FTCs activities were deferred and only resumed in July [after the issue was resolved]. Because the court recess would start in August, we fixed all hearing of pending cases in October, after the recess," Ainuson explained. The way forward Plans are afoot for the replication of FTCs in the 10 regions of the country by December, Ainuson said, adding that the equipment was already available. The World Bank, which was instrumental in establishing the first three FTCs, is funding training of 20 staff on the use of stenograph machines over 18 months, he said. "We have plans to try on a pilot basis to computerise magistrates courts dealing with family, juvenile and, later, minors cases because usually there are so many cases filed at this level," Ainuson added. It is hoped that magistrates courts will be covered in all 10 regions of the country by February or March 2003. The Danish government has expressed interest in supporting this phase through the Danish Agency for Development Assistance (DANIDA). The FTCs are "up and going" and have attracted visitors from courts in Nigeria and Sierra Leone so far, according to Ainuson. Within a few months of their operation, FTCs have charted a new way forward for the judicial system in Ghana, and judicial officials say there is now "no turning back".