The director for monitoring and evaluation at the Judicial Service of Ghana, Papa K. Maisie, has revealed that total number of courts nationwide currently stands at 468.
The breakdown he said is as follows; Supreme Court, 1, Court of Appeal 6, High Court, 129, Circuit Court, 104 and District Court, 228.
In an interaction with the Judicial Press Corps (JPC),he explained that between the 2022/2023 legal year and the just-ended 2023/2024 legal year, there has been a significant increase in the number of courts in the country.
“The Supreme is one and it remains so, however, the Court of Appeal was three but an additional three have been added to increase the number to six, representing a 100% increase. The country’s High Courts were 125 at the end of the 2022/2023 legal year but an additional two have been added to make it 127 representing a 1.6% increase,” Mr Maisie said.
“Circuit Courts were 97, and six more have been added bringing the number to 103 representing a 6.2% increase. District Courts on the other hand were 208 and 20 more have been added bringing the number to 228 and representing a 9.6% increase,” the director for monitoring & evaluation, Papa K. Maisie added.
The Chief Justice has decided, with the support of the Judicial Council, to establish permanent panels of the Court of Appeal in five locations across the country.
The locations are Sekondi, which will cater for appeals from the Central and Western regions; Koforidua for Eastern, Volta and Oti regions; Kumasi for Ahafo, Bono West, Bono East, Western North and Ashanti regions.
The Accra Court of Appeal will cater for cases from the Greater Accra Region, while Tamale will take care of the Upper West, Upper East, North East, Savannah and Northern regions through a virtual link in the Kumasi Court of Appeal.
Source:Mybrytfmonline/Mensah Atakora
