Ugandan delegation end five-day visit to understudy Ghana’s judicial system

A 13-member Ugandan judicial delegation, led by its Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, has ended a five-day visit, observing Ghana’s judicial system. 

The delegation who arrived in the country on October 31, 2022, will return to their country today, after a five-day learning experience. 

“As a continent, we should be learning from one another and not always run to America, Europe, and others. There is a lot we can offer one another as Africans. Ghana has developed strategies, systems, infrastructure, and practices that have seen tremendous growth and effectiveness in its administration and delivery of justice,” said Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera. 

For five days, the team paid a courtesy call on the Chief Justice, His Lordship Kwasi Anin Yeboah, visited courts, including the new Court of Appeal residential complex in Kumasi, where they called on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. 

They also visited the Judicial Training Institute (JTI), and also observed Ghana’s judicial reforms with E-justice, as well as the court-connected Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism.  

Deputy Chief Justice, Richard Buteera further said Ghana has made a big achievement in reducing its case backlog to one year. “This is a big achievement because, for us, a case is backlogged when it is two years in the system,” he said.

“We find the strategies adopted by Ghana useful and we will probably adopt some. We were also impressed about how Ghana assesses the performance of judges and judicial officers. We will borrow some of the performance assessment tools and methods into our system.”