Accra, Oct. 6, GNA - The Judicial Service of Ghana has this year collected more than six billion cedis as court fees and fines in Accra alone compared to three billion cedis collected throughout the country last year.

The internally generated revenues were collected from the Head Office of the Judiciary and the 'Cocoa Affairs,' housing the circuit courts in Accra.

Mr Justice George Kingsley Acquah, Chief Justice, announced this at the 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG), held at the Chief Justice's Court in Accra on Thursday.

The Association is affiliated to the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association (CMJA) and aims at promoting the welfare and interests of members while it ensures uniformity of practice among members and upholds the ethics of the profession, and fosters healthy working relationship with the Bar.

The Chief Justice said the Government gave out 15 per cent internally generated funds to the organisations concerned and appealed to the staff of Judiciary to work hard to increase their collections, since the Judiciary could not rely only on budgetary allocation for its survival.

He said as a measure to reduce corruption and to improve accountability in the Service, the Judicial Service this year introduced a new system for the collection of revenue.

"On the direction of the Bank of Ghana, the Judicial Service made HFC Bank to provide a collection point for the collection of all court fees and fines from litigants and other court users," saying "consequently all such revenue is now paid directly to the Bank".

Mr Justice Acquah said the banking pilot project, which begun in June, this year, would be extended to the regional courts after a successful trial period. The system is under the supervision of the Bank of Ghana.

Announcing some changes in the activities of the Judicial Service of the country, Mr Acquah said capacity building of the staff remained the core agenda of the reform programme and noted that an efficient and highly trained workforce was better placed to protect the rule of law. He said the training this year had comprised training of judges and magistrates as well as the training of other staffs.

Mr Acquah stated that the new Supreme Court Administration Block was expected to be handed over in December, this year and that several other construction projects of the courts, including refurbishments and rehabilitations were underway.

The Chief Justice lauded the Government for ensuring that by January, next year, judges and magistrates would be allocated with funds for the purchase of cars to make them mobile.

Welcoming the members, Mr Justice Yaw Appau, the outgoing President of the Association, said though the Association was a non-profit one its finances had improved tremendously, due to proper management and the will of members to contribute adequately to its growth. He said: "My brothers and sisters let us portray our dignity as judges by our appearance and deeds. We should live descent lives in the societies or communities in which we live and operate, despite the financial constraints we encounter most often."