Despite the creation of District Assemblies in Ghana which is currently 262 with 275 Constituencies, there are only 98 District Courts in operation.
Also, Ghana has only 33 Circuit Courts serving the entire nation which has over 30 million people.
The District Court makes up the largest number of courts in the country and statistically handles the largest number of cases.
Civil jurisdictions of this Court include all personal actions arising under contract or tort for recovery of any liquidated sum where the amount claimed does not exceed Gh¢ 5000.00
In criminal matters, the Court has jurisdiction to try summarily offenses punishable by a fine not exceeding Five Hundred (500) penalty units or imprisonment for a term not exceeding (2) years or both.
Currently, there are a total of One Hundred and Fifty-Eight (158) Magistrates at the post. Seventy (55) of them are Professional Magistrates, Sixty-Seven (67) Senior Career Magistrates and Thirty-Six (36) are Career Magistrates.
Under the Ghanaian judicial system, there are mainly five types of courts in Ghana.
The new court system consists of two levels: superior courts and lower courts. The superior courts include the Supreme Court, the Appeals Court, the High Court, and regional tribunals.
Parliament has the authority to create a system of lower courts.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) has been adopted by the Judicial Service, Ghana as part of its adjudication process dubbed: “Court Connected ADR”.
The aim of the programmer is to ensure that access to justice in Ghana is made easier, cheaper, non-adversarial, expeditious and flexible to all particularly the poor and vulnerable.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kofi Atakora
