Information gathered by the ‘Daily Heritage’ newspaper indicates that the Justice for all Programme which was instituted by the government to de-congest the country’s prisons choked with large numbers of remand inmates is under threat.
Reports suggest that if funds are not released to enable judges travel to areas where special courts have been set up to hear the cases of the remand prisoners, the project would collapse.
Checks at the Kumasi Appeals Court revealed that cases bothering on remand prisoners have been suspended because the judges have been absenting themselves.
A judge who pleaded anonymity told the Daily Heritage that the Kumasi Appeals court cannot hear cases anymore so clients and their lawyers have to travel to Accra to hear their appeals.
“This is frustrating; thus, remand inmates would have to linger in jails because the system has broken down,” he added.
According to him, the situation is the same as Tamale, Volta and Eastern regions appeal court.
“We would want to passionately represent the inmates but we are unable to because they tell you there are no funds. What can we do?” he quizzed.
He contended that the Justice For All Programme’ alone cannot solve the problem and that there is the need for an entire review of the criminal justice delivery system to ensure that everyone enjoys fair trial.
Although Article 19 of the 1992 constitution protects the right of suspects to bail, the rights of these prisoners have been violated because they have not been treated fairly.
Source: GhanaWeb
