The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) on Friday called on the Chief Justice to put in place an effective monitoring mechanism that will ensure the enforcement of court rules. The GBA said this mechanism would not only stop the repeated adjournments of cases, but would also help sanction those guilty of non-compliance with the rules. This was part of a resolution adopted at the end of GBA’s Annual General Conference at Tamale and read at a press conference in Accra by the National President, Mr Joseph Ebow Quashie.

The GBA urged the Judicial Council to re-visit the question of the integrity of the judicial system through the establishment of effective systems to ensure that in the performance of their duties, accountability becomes the watchword of judges.

"Public complaints of corruption in the delivery of justice are mounting, thereby fuelling loss of confidence of our people in the judicial system and undermining efforts at building a favourable investment climate."

The GBA urged the courts as well as private legal practitioners to actively encourage alternative methods of settling disputes, such as mediation, conciliation, and arbitration, to decongest the regular courts and tribunals of cases.

The association also called on the courts and tribunals to refrain from "the rampant practice of using the power to grant or refuse bail as a means of punishment." It said: "this constitutes a flagrant violation of the constitutional guarantee of the right to personal liberty and the presumption of innocence of the accused."

The lawyers urged the Judicial Council to set up a Judicial College to help upgrade the knowledge and skills of judges. The council should also team up with the Chief Justice to intensify existing continuing legal education for judges to keep them abreast with developments in the law and avoid embarrassing judgements.

The GBA said the system where judges are promoted from the circuit courts and the tribunals to the High Court simply because they are "due for promotion" should be abolished.

It proposed that " tried and tested practice" of appointing members of the bar who have distinguished themselves to the superior courts be re-visited. On the question of "quacks" in the profession, the association suggested that the surest way of eliminating them is to issue all lawyers of good standing with identity cards