Accra, July 8, GNA - A three-member delegation from the Judicial Service of Ghana (JSG) led by Mr Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, a Supreme Court Judge, is in Edinburgh, Scotland, to attend the 10th Anniversary of the Commonwealth (Latimer House) Principles Colloquium organised by the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association. A statement signed by Mr. D.A. Kwapong, Director of Communications, JSG, said the delegation, which would be away for six days, included Mr Justice Samuel K. Asiedu, a High Court Judge and Mrs. Laurenda Owusu, a Circuit Judge.

The Colloquium would also mark the 5th Anniversary of the adoption in Abuja, Nigeria, of the Commonwealth Principles on the accountability of and relationship between the three branches of government. The Colloquium, among other things, would consider recommendations for assessing compliance, extending and strengthening the principles to promote wider understanding of the principles and its importance to good governance in relation to law Ministers and their advisors. Besides, the seminar would also adopt the Edinburgh Plan of Action for the Commonwealth.

The Latimer House Principles are a set of guidelines on good practice governing relations between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary in the promotion of good governance, the rule of law and human rights.

The statement said the principles were drawn up by a conference sponsored by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Commonwealth Legal Education Association, the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association held at Latimer House, Buckinghamshire, in June 1998. It said Commonwealth Law Ministers from Australia, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Singapore, South Africa and the United Kingdom formed the working group, which finalised an agreed text of principles on the accountability and relationship between the three branches of government.