The Chief Justice of Ghana, the Right Honourable Georgina Woods, who was appointed in 2007, has stated that her mission is to build a credible and trustworthy judiciary for the administration of justice in Ghana.
Ghanaian judiciary to receive training in judicial ethics
3 June 2008
The Chief Justice of Ghana has stated that her mission is to build a credible and trustworthy judiciary for the administration of justice in Ghana
The Judicial Training Institute in Ghana is currently planning and implementing training in ethics for judiciary and court staff after receiving funding from the Commonwealth Secretariat.
A code of conduct has already been prepared for the judiciary and a further code of conduct will also be prepared for court staff in the West African country. Training will be delivered to court staff once this code of conduct has been developed.
Codes of conduct
Codes of conduct set down the standard of behaviour which judiciary and court staff are bound to comply with.
The Chief Justice of Ghana, the Rt Hon Georgina Woods, who was appointed in 2007, has stated that her mission is to build a credible and trustworthy judiciary for the administration of justice in Ghana.
To this end she has chosen a theme for the next five years of ‘Strengthening Judicial Integrity and Capacity through Judicial Training’.
In support of this statement, a letter requesting assistance was sent to the Secretariat to support this training. Following an assessment mission in February 2008 by Kevin Maguire, Legal Adviser at the Secretariat, a report was prepared recommending support for the Chief Justice’s mission statement.
“One of the major dilemmas facing court systems throughout the world is the lack of public confidence in the actions and decisions of the judiciary and court staff,” said Mr Maguire.
“Dealing with this is imperative for public confidence in the court system and the rule of law, and training the judiciary and court staff in ethical matters will go a long way towards resolving this problem. The proposal by the Chief Justice of Ghana is an important initiative in restoring and maintaining the confidence of the public in court systems.”
This support was highlighted in the development of the ‘Limassol Conclusions’ at a meeting in Cyprus in 2002 on combating corruption within the judiciary, organised by the Secretariat in collaboration with the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association.
At this meeting, representatives from 23 Commonwealth countries determined, in part, that “judicial training programmes should be available and should include training on ethical and corruption issues”.
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