Amended Court rules will provide clear timelines for parliamentary election petitions-CJ

Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has revealed that the Rules of Court are being amended to set clear timelines for handling parliamentary election petitions. 

This change follows concerns from past election periods, where the absence of fixed deadlines and reliance on standard court procedures led to delays and misuse of the legal process.

Speaking at the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) conference in Kumasi on September 9, she explained that the Rules of Court Committee has worked to modify the High Court Civil Procedure Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47) to create specific rules for parliamentary election disputes.

In addition, the Chief Justice expressed optimism that there will be no need for a presidential election petition after the 2024 elections. She also mentioned ongoing efforts to revise the Supreme Court Rules (C.I. 16) to improve the efficiency of handling presidential election petitions.

Digitalization

The Chief Justice mentioned that there is an ongoing process aimed at delivering a paperless Supreme Court and Court of Appeal and hoping to have reached completion by next year.

Also, Her Ladyship noted that the digitalization of appeal records is ongoing thus when completed there will no longer be a need to transmit them manually.

Ethics

She observed that there has been an increase in the number of lawyers referred to the Council on ethical matters and thus noted that the GLC is engaging the Law deans to introduce the teaching of ethics at the faculties in order to strengthen would-be lawyers on such matters.

Paralegal training

Further, the Chief Justice emphasized the need to build the capacity of our Judicial staff to a world-class standard. She therefore noted that preparations are far advanced to offer paralegal training for Judicial Service Staff.