Judge threatens to recommend closure of Bolgatanga Court
Justice Jacob Boon, the Upper East Regional Supervising High Court Judge, has threatened to recommend to the Chief Justice for the closure of the Bolgatanga District Court for lack of a decent court house.
He said the Bolgatanga Municipality, do not have decent court structures which could promote effective justice delivery and the Assembly was not serious about the situation.
The Supervising High Court Judge gave the warning when he commissioned the refurbished Bongo District Court in Bongo, on behalf of the Chief Justice.
Justice Boon said the judiciary system was dissatisfied with the attitude of the Assembly towards justice delivery in the Municipality as it was not making any effort to put up decent structures for judiciary.
He said young districts with limited resources than Bolgatanga were making significant strides to build decent structures to ensure smooth service delivery and threatened that if necessary steps were not taken to provide the needed infrastructure for the judiciary, a recommendation would be made to the Chief Justice for the Bolgatanga District Court of be closed down.
“I am happy a representative of the Regional Minister is here, you would convey to the Regional Minister that we are not happy with Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly, because Assemblies that even came after Bolgatanga are making efforts to put up decent places for their courts and Bolgatanga should not be left behind”.
“We are dissatisfied because an official of the Assembly told us that providing a court house is not a priority for the Municipal Assembly, I do not know if he speaks for the whole Assembly but all the same he is a high official and I think that his words carry a lot of weight.
“So let the Regional Minister know that she has to call Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly to order, otherwise if I recommend to the Chief Justice to close down Bolgatanga District Court because we have no decent place nobody should blame anybody,” Justice Boon stressed.
Justice Boon indicated that putting up a court structure was part of the development needs of the people and therefore it was imperative for all Assemblies to provide decent and conducive environment for justice to be dispensed.
“Some people may think that the provision of a court house is not the fair need of the people but the policy of the judiciary service and for that matter the government is to bring justice to the doorstep of the people.”
He said the Judiciary Service was vigorously pursuing the policy of decentralization and government had taken steps to provide courts in all districts across the country, “It is therefore the responsibility of the various Assemblies to provide decent court structures and accommodation to ensure smooth service delivery”, he added.
Source: GNA