General News of Saturday, 30 April 2005

Source: GNA

Govt determined to speed up justice delivery

Aduamoa (Ash.), April 30, GNA - The government is determined to revamp the law courts, the Attorney General's Office and the Police Administration to facilitate quick delivery of justice in the country. Mr Emmanuel Asamoa Owusu-Ansah, Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice said this when answering questions at a meeting with the chiefs and people of Aduamoa in the Kwabre West Constituency of the Ashanti Region during a tour of the area on Friday.

The Deputy Minister said government was anxious to see that delays in court cases were removed.

He said some of the litigants themselves, lawyers and the Judges should share in the blame for the delays. Mr Owusu-Ansah said his ministry was doing every thing possible to clear the backlog of cases that had piled up at the courts to bring justice and satisfaction to all. He called on all Ghanaians to take a critical look at themselves, examine their lifestyles and social behaviours to bring down the unacceptable high level of indiscipline in the society. Responding to reports that there had been a confrontation between the youth of the area and the contractors working on the Kodie-Aboabogya road over what the people claimed was a bad job done by the contractors, the Deputy Minister, who is also their Member of Parliament (MP) advised against taking the law into their own hands. Confrontation, he noted was not the answer and that they should report to the appropriate authorities for action to be taken. Nana Osei Tire II, Chief of the town and Asantehene's Nkonsonhene, called for unity among the people, and pointing out that this was crucial for development.

The Deputy Minister asked the youth to distance themselves from chieftaincy disputes and concentrate their efforts on profitable ventures.