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Ghana The Judiciary
Since independence in 1957, the courts system, headed by the
chief justice, has demonstrated extraordinary independence and
resilience. The structure and jurisdiction of the courts were
defined by the Courts Act of 1971, which established the Supreme
Court of Ghana (or simply the Supreme Court), the Court of Appeal
(Appellate Court) with two divisions--ordinary bench and full
bench, and the High Court of Justice (or simply the High Court), a
court with both appellate and original jurisdiction. The act also
established the so-called inferior and traditional courts, which,
along with the above courts, constituted the judiciary of Ghana
according to the 1960, 1979, and 1992 constitutions.
Until mid-1993, the inferior courts in descending order of
importance were the circuit courts, the district courts (magistrate
courts) grades I and II, and juvenile courts. Such courts existed
mostly in cities and large urban centers. In mid-1993, however,
Parliament created a new system of lower courts, consisting of
circuit tribunals and community tribunals in place of the former
circuit courts and district (magistrate) courts
(see Developing Democratic Institutions
, this ch.). The traditional courts are the
National House of Chiefs, the regional houses of chiefs, and
traditional councils. The traditional courts are constituted by the
judicial committees of the various houses and councils. All courts,
both superior and inferior, with the exception of the traditional
courts, are vested with jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters.
The traditional courts have exclusive power to adjudicate any cause
or matter affecting chieftaincy as defined by the Chieftaincy Act
of 1971.
Judicial appointments are made by the chief justice on the
advice of the independent Judicial Council of Ghana and are subject
to government approval. The PNDC Establishment Proclamation
abolished the Judicial Council, but it was reestablished by the
1992 constitution.
Ghana also has quasi-judicial agencies and institutions.
Examples of these are the Reconciliation Committee of the
Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, provision
for private hearings at home, and the use of various spiritual
agencies, such as shrines, churches, Muslim mallams, and
specialists in the manipulation of supernatural powers to whom many
ordinary people resort.
Noteworthy for both the colonial and the postcolonial periods
up to the present are the special courts, public tribunals,
politico-military bodies such as
asaf companies (see Glossary),
and vigilante groups. These bodies exercise quasijudicial , extra-judicial, and law enforcement functions that often
complement, and in some cases attempt to supplant, the functions of
the regular or traditional courts.
Of these special courts, the former public tribunals deserve
special mention. With the initiation of the 31st December 1981
Revolution, the PNDC established a number of judicial institutions
intended to check abuse and corruption within the regular courts.
These special courts, called people's courts or public tribunals,
were established in August 1982 as a separate system for
administering justice alongside the country's regular courts. Their
purpose was to regulate the administration of justice to prevent
frivolous abuse of court powers and to obtain the truth by
concentrating on the facts of the case rather than on questions of
law.
The public tribunals, which consisted of the National Public
Tribunal, regional public tribunals, and district and community
public tribunals, were an attempt to "democratize" the
administration of justice by making it possible for the public at
large to participate actively in judicial decision making. They
were also meant to correct perceived deficiencies of the regular
courts, to enhance the general accessibility of law to the common
people, to promote social justice, and to provide institutional
safeguards that would secure public accountability. The right of
appeal against the verdict of the tribunals was not originally
provided for until public outcry led to the introduction of appeals
procedures in 1984.
Under the PNDC, the public tribunals exercised only criminal
jurisdiction. They dealt with three categories of offenses against
the state: criminal offenses referred to them by the PNDC
government, certain offenses under the country's Criminal Code, and
offenses listed in the Public Tribunals Law of 1984. Proceedings of
the tribunals were generally public and swift; sentences were
frequently harsh and included death by firing squad. Under the
Public Tribunals Law of 1984, without prejudice to the appellate
system set out in the law itself, no court or other tribunal could
question any decision, order, or proceeding of a public tribunal.
The creation of public tribunals and the PNDC's violent attack
on lawyers set the PNDC on a collision course with the Ghana Bar
Association, which forbade its members to sit on public tribunals.
Many of the rulings of the public tribunals were cited by Amnesty
International and other human rights organizations as violations of
such rights as freedom of the press and habeas corpus
(see Human Rights
, ch. 5). Under the Fourth Republic, the public tribunals
were incorporated into the existing court hierarchy
(see Developing Democratic Institutions
, this ch.).
Data as of November 1994
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