Sekondi, Jan. 26, GNA - Ms Betty Bosomtwi-Sam, the Deputy Western Regional Minister, has opened the 2010/2011 Criminal Session at the Sekondi High Court. In an address she expressed the hope that with the opening of the criminal session, the courts would aim at clearing most of the backlog of criminal cases pending before them some of which have been with them since 1992.

Ms Bosomtwi-Sam said the long delays of cases had created problems as suspects are kept on remand for long periods and this does not speak well of the country's human rights credentials. She said it was the duty of all stakeholders in the judiciary to assist to ensure fair and speedy trial of all criminal cases especially in instances where the accused persons have been kept in custody until a judicial determination of their guilt or otherwise. Ms Bosomtwi-Sam urged all key stakeholders in matters concerning especially remand prisoners to approach their work diligently, with determination and commitment in order to experience the real change in justice delivery in the country.

She said one of the problems leading to delays in criminal cases had to do with the unwillingness of people to serve as jurors because they are not being paid well. Ms Bosomtwi-Sam appealed to the judiciary to increase the money paid to jurors in order to motivate more to come forward whenever they are needed to serve as jurors.

"I believe our jurors would ensure fair play, honesty and integrity in their work so that the suspects who come before them will always receive a speedy and fair trial."

She called on the Ghana Bar Association to encourage more lawyers to provide free legal aid to accused persons who may need such service since lack of defence counsel for accused persons more often cause delays in the adjudication of some cases. Mr Justice Robin Batu, Regional Supervising High Court Judge, said said many of the accused persons facing trial have been in custody for several years and delays in bringing accused persons to court or expeditious trial of their cases once presented to court could be attributed to several factors.

The factors include delays by Police in presenting case dockets to Attorney-General's Office for advice, transfer of case officers from their stations, difficulty in locating witnesses due to relocation and sometimes death of witnesses and difficulty in getting jurors. Mr Justice Batu said, "We must begin to tackle those problems seriously and although the accused persons face the most serious charges, that does not take away their constitutional rights to freedom and expeditious trial." He said, "I urge all of us involved in dealing with such cases to consider the constitutional rights of accused persons as well". Mr Justice Batu said many people might not be aware that it is an offence under the law punishable by a fine of 100 penalty units or 21 days imprisonment to refuse to serve as a juror Mr Justice Batu said in future, criminal sanctions may have to be employed to ensure that jurors are available for trial and expeditious disposal of cases.

He said in the meantime, to reduce the strain on the present crop of Jurors who have served for about two years, a day has been assigned in each week to deal with only indictable and other serious offences to reduce the strain on Jurors in rushing from one Court room to another. Mr Justice Batu urged the Police Administration to take into consideration cases being handled by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) personnel before deciding on when or how to transfer them.