The media specialist on the Justice Sector Support Activity (JSSA), Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, has described the electronic Case Tracking System (CTS) as a revolution in Ghana’s justice delivery system.

The system keeps a public record of police cases.

The electronic Case Tracking System (CTS) collects, collates, and harmonizes data from the time of the arrest of a suspect to the time judgment is delivered.

“This tracker will help monitor from the point of arrest, investigations, prosecution, conviction, rehabilitation, and release,” Mr. Kwarteng praised the innovation.

To educate the general public about the existence and usage of the case tracking system, Mr. Kwarteng said the Justice Sector Support Activity (JSSA) will roll out a campaign to sensitize the public.

“Oftentimes, people lose out on opportunities because they lack information, for instance, there are some many people who call us seeking to know how they can pursue justice, most of these people are unlettered, many do not even know the existence of Legal Aid,” he said.

Stressing the need to intensify advocacy about the Justice Sector Support Activity, the Executive Director of crime prevention and advocacy organization, Crime Check Foundation, Oppong Kwarteng indicated that “at the community level some selected individuals will be brought together to form Citizen Monitoring Groups (CMG) to monitor the progress of the project in their localities".

"We will also involve other CSOs, and collaborate with the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) by tapping into their already existing structures to promulgate the change we seek to make”.

Media Engagement

According to Mr. Kwarteng, some media personalities will be conferred ambassadorial roles to help in the advocacy and sensitization of the general public.

"We will engage with media personalities with huge following to use their platforms to  sensitize the public about the importance of the project"

Emphasizing the need to use existing local communication mediums, Mr. Kwarteng noted that “jingles will be produced in the various local languages to drum home the message,…the sensitization will not only be done in mainstream media, we will water it down to the localities”.

What is the Case Tracking System

Ghana’s criminal justice delivery faces a lot of challenges, cases are not handled in a timely manner and a lack of communication within the justice sector has weakened efficiency and effectiveness during criminal prosecutions.

To improve information sharing and coordination in Ghana’s Justice delivery system, an electronic case tracking system (CTS) was launched in Accra in October 2020.

The CTS project is funded by the USAID in partnership with Crime Check Foundation, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, and other CSOs.

The CTS project will be implemented in forty (40) districts in seven (7) regions; Western, Greater Accra, Northern, Bono, Upper East, Ashanti, and Volta.

Benefits of CTS

The project will progressively scrutinize the criminal justice space positively through the following:

-development of a comprehensive design and sustainable roll-out process for the integrated case tracking system.

-Implement a testing phase and identifying the requirements for the sustainable use and expansion of the integrated case tracking system and Improve procedures and policies to strengthen change management, coordination, and communication across key justice sector institutions.

“There are so many avenues that people can seek redress but the information is not even there in the first place, so we believe that by the time there is a comprehensive roll-out of the project, the awareness among the populace about CTS would have improved” he added.