By Joyce Kantam Kolamong.
About 444 criminal cases were tracked and recorded in the Northern Region in the First Quarter of 2020.
This figure paints a gloomy picture of the situation on the ground, considering the number of criminal cases recorded and the presence of all the 6 Justice Sector Institutions in the region.
The situation has been attributed to the inability of the institutions to effectively use the Case Tracking system. A Legal Analyst at the Legal Resources Centre, Enoch Jengre, is therefore advocating the effective use of the Case Tracking System by stakeholders to reduce delays in the Criminal Justice System and provide timely access to justice, as well as deepen public confidence in the justice system.
Mr. Jengre was speaking at a sensitization session on the Ghana Case Tracking System under a USAID Justice Sector Support Activity in Tamale.
The Case Tracking System, CTS, is an integrated system for Ghana’s Criminal Justice Sector that has been designed, tested and piloted and is currently being rolled out in 40 Metropolitan Municipal, Departments & Agencies in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Northern, Bono, Upper East, Volta and Western regions.
It seeks to support the government to effectively investigate and prosecute criminal acts. The CTS is improving the country’s ability to track criminal cases from their introduction into the system to prosecution of those cases in courts, improving information sharing and coordination among law enforcement and judicial authorities.
The CTS was launched by the government in 2018 with 6 key Justice Sector Institutions involved. These are: the Ghana Police, Ghana Prisons Service, Legal Aid Commission, Judicial Service, Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice and EOCO.
A Legal Analyst at the Legal Resources Centre, Enoch Jengre underscored the importance of the system adding that “it will go a long way to improve the country’s criminal justice system’’.
Mr. Jengre indicated that when justice becomes inaccessible, and the result is injustice and injustice leads to bitterness, anger, revolt and ultimately political and social disintegration.
“Access to justice is one of the fundamental principles upon which good governance rests, hence, a compelling and immediate need to eliminate barriers to access to justice,’’ he stated.
