By Ernest Addo
Cabinet is currently deliberating on a bill- Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill-to enhance the speed with which judgement is delivered in criminal cases in the country.
When the Bill, after Cabinet’s deliberation, is laid in Parliament and eventually passed to become law, the pattern of conduct, typical in the criminal justice delivery system, where cases in court suffer undue delays would be a thing of the past; for the bill introduces a substantial reform of the criminal procedure laws.
The Bill, according to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame, amongst others proposed “scrapping trials on indictment, except where the offence is punishable by death or life imprisonment as enjoined under the Constitution or other substantive law, provision for examination of witnesses by video conferencing, provision for trials to proceed where an accused person is not personally present in court, day-to-day trial of all criminal cases except where same is impracticable, restriction on interlocutory appeals to only after a determination by the trial court of a submission of no case, reform of the jury system to reduce the list of exemptions from jury service, the composition of the jury (by addition of alternate jurors), adoption of proceedings in criminal cases and many other matters.”
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the annual conference of the Ghana Bar Association, 2023, held in Cape Coast last Monday, 11 September, this year, lawyer Dame said “The Bill underwent extensive stakeholder consultations prior to its presentation to Cabinet and I note with satisfaction, that, the Judicial Council and the Ghana Bar Association have approved of these far-reaching reforms of criminal procedure in Ghana. I am hopeful Cabinet will deliberate on same rapidly in order for it to be laid in Parliament when it resumes sittings in October.”
Not only that. The Ministry of Justice, Lawyer Dame, hinted, is working on a few other important bills as well but considered the passage of an Alternative Sentencing Act an urgent necessity as a further avenue to reduce congestion in our prisons.
Subsequently, a “revised draft Community Sentencing Bill prepared by my Office is going through a process of validation by stakeholders, and will soon be laid before Parliament,” the Attorney General said.
Under the theme: “Ensuring high standards and integrity in public life – the role of the legal profession,” Lawyer Dame expatiated, regarding achievements, that the Prosecutions Division had ably lived up to its constitutional duty of being the prosecutor of all crimes in the country, even though prosecution of so-called high-profile economic crime cases is thwarted by unjustified delays occasioned by the filing of unnecessary applications and frivolous interlocutory appeals.
He lamented: “Her Ladyship the Chief Justice, this is a very grave matter. The efficiency of a nation’s justice system is tested by the manner in which cases seeking to hold high-profile members of society to account, are conducted. It is unjust and unfair for so-called high-profile criminal cases involving the summary offences of fraud, wilfully causing financial loss to the State and money laundering to drag on for years whilst similar cases filed against the perceived ordinary members of society are concluded within six months to one year.”
Henceforth, the AG also disclosed, it will be unlawful for any public officer to enter into a contract in which the rate of interest is stipulated to be compound interest. The state’s hard-pressed purse will be further protected by this amendment to the Contracts Act.
Perhaps, also looking into the political crystal balls, Lawyer Godfred Dame prophesied that “it is becoming increasingly quite clear that, even though the next President will be an economist, being the son of a lawyer, he will hold fast to the values the legal profession cherishes.”
