JUDGES URGED TO BE ICT COMPLIANT (PAGE 38)

JUDGES have been urged to be Information and Communications Technology (ICT) compliant to prepare themselves adequately for the Judicial Service’s e-governance project which involves the computerisation and automation of the court system.
That, according to the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, would avert the problem of missing dockets, eliminate paper work and improve record keeping and retrieval just by the click of a button.
“Therefore, every judge should be able to know how to send and retrieve e-mail and files to ensure that cost and other forms of delay are eliminated through the e-governance project,” she said.
She said the service spent huge amounts of money on A4 sheets for printing, adding that that would be eliminated under the e-governance programme.
She said computerisation and the implementation of e-governance were perfect initiatives, and that the service would continue to strategise on an e-governance process of courts to achieve its application in all areas of the service.
“Our current ICT policy includes an extensive programme to automate and computerise all courts in the country, as well as provide training for the staff who will man the automated courts,” she said.
The Chief Justice said although some superior courts had benefited from the automation, it was envisaged that the court automation programme would be expanded to all courts in due course.
Mrs Justice Wood said e-governance would lead to a better and more effective delivery of justice in the country by rendering the court processes speedier and more transparent.
She said other initiatives included the institution of an annual report, a programmatic career magistrates training, building a database of cases decided, going electronic with the Supreme Court library, among others.
“It is expected that these reform projects will enhance the level of quality and justice delivery in Ghana,” she said.
Using the annual report as an example, Mrs Justice Wood said it was designed to reinforce the level of accountability within the judicial system, as well as keep the public informed of the activities of the judiciary.