Government builds courthouses and accompanying residences for judges, magistrates

Government is constructing 100 courthouses and accompanying residences for judges and magistrates around the country.

Fifty out of the 100 are being built and are near completion and will be handed over to the Judiciary soon.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said this during the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament on Wednesday.

The SONA sets out the government’s key policy objectives, deliverables for the year ahead, highlights of the government’s achievements and interventions.

The President Akufo-Addo said a courthouse was an essential element of the architecture of a State dedicated to the promotion of the rule of law.

“And yet there are large areas of our country that are not served by any court, and people must travel long distances to access the services of a court,” he said.

He said unfortunately, as a former Chief Justice once put it, the conditions of most of the court facilities around the country, where they exist, were not fit for purpose.

The President said another 121 residential units for the Judiciary were also being built across the country.

Furthermore, 22 new modern townhouses are being constructed at Danyame, in Kumasi, to address the accommodation challenges facing Court of Appeal Judges assigned to the Northern Sector.

He said work began on the project some 20 years ago on the construction of Law House, a proposed new office accommodation for the Office of Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice.

The proposed office is a 12-storey edifice consisting of 10 floors above ground and two storeys underground, meanwhile work on the project had stopped many years ago.

He said the project was expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, about law enforcement, the President said the passage of the Right to Information Act, the Witness Protection Act, the amendment of the Criminal Offences Act, and other laws have significantly enhanced the capacity of the State in the fight against corruption.

He said it was an undeniable fact that budgetary allocations for institutions actively engaged in public sector accountability, i.e., the Office of the Auditor-General, the Judiciary, Parliament, and the Ghana Police Service, have witnessed significant increases since he assumed office in 2017.

The President said, “we now have a new Special Prosecutor, who appears to have all the wherewithal necessary to exercise vigorously the prerogatives of his office.



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