The filing of three separate petitions demanding the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has ignited widespread conversations about her possible removal from office.
While the country awaits the outcome of the constitutional procedures under Article 146, attention has been turned to her legacies and the ongoing reforms she initiated during her tenure.
Amid this legal storm, this GhanaWeb article takes a look at some key reforms introduced by the Chief Justice since she assumed office on July 12, 2023.
Small claims and debt recovery courts
On August 7, 2024, the Chief Justice, Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, commissioned a court dedicated to small claims and debts recoveries.
The move aims to address the resolution of financial disputes, credit recovery cases, and claims from other institutions.
It is expected to hear more than 50,000 cases that Bills Micro-Credit Limited, formerly Quick Credit, has begun filing to recover their funds.
At the commissioning of the courts, the Chief Justice expressed hope that the move will help deal with the increase in the caseload of small claims filed by Bills Micro-Credit Limited.
“It is our expectation that with the launch of these Small Claims Debt Recovery Courts and cooperation of citizens, and the businesses involved, the nation can confront, head-on and in a speedy manner, the challenge of the nearly 55,000 claims that Bills Micro-Credit Limited alone has expressed the intention of filing in the lower courts,” she said.
Automation of Courts
Some one hundred and sixteen (116) courts have been automated across the country, bringing the total number to 228.
The automation aims to provide efficient and effective recording of court proceedings.
The e-justice system (also called Paperless Courts) is part of the government’s e-Transform Program, which seeks to automate the existing manual filing systems within the court’s registry.
The then-Director of ICT at the Judicial Service, Noble Kekeli Nutifafa, speaking at the third edition of the Chief Justice’s Meeting with the Judicial Press Corps (JPC) on August 3, 2024, said 71,781 cases had been filed as part of the e-justice system initiated by the Judicial Service as of July 2024.
He said the service has also developed an e-bail tracking system used by the courts to check documents used for sureties.
“It is also used to keep track of the inflow and outflow of documents deposited at the registries,” he added.
He said other upcoming initiatives included e-signature/digital signature, court alert and notification systems, national transcription centers, an electronic case management system, a digitalised land database, and a speech-to-text mechanism.
Software for Independent Examination Committee of the General Legal Council
Under her leadership, a new software for the Independent Examination Committee (IEC) of the General Legal Council (GLC), the body mandated to conduct examinations for professional law students and admission to the Ghana School of Law, was launched on July 12, 2024.
The Chief Justice described the initiative as great news for legal education in the country.
“I am grateful that finally, we have in place a software for the administration of examinations of professional legal education in the country to be used by the Independent Examinations Committee of the General Legal Council (GLC),” Justice Torkornoo said.
Courts to Have Shift Systems
On March 16, 2024, the Judicial Service introduced a court shift system to help clear the backlog of pending cases across the country.
A statement issued by the Judicial Secretary, Pamela Koranteng, said the Chief Justice has introduced a court shift system on a pilot basis by optimising the use of existing court resources to reduce the volume of cases before the courts, effective March 25, 2024.
“The rational for the court shift system stems from the fact that, findings from a physical count of dockets undertaken in all courts nationwide demonstrated that a number of identified courts have huge caseloads, with some in excess of 600 pending cases,” it noted.
Expansion of jury lists to include eligible citizens
During the opening session of the 2025 Criminal Assizes Session in Accra on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, the Chief Justice announced that the Judicial Service has expanded jury lists to include all citizens qualified by law, including individuals from the private sector.
The reforms are expected to address inefficiencies enhance justice delivery.
“As we open assizes today, we have expanded the jury list to include all citizens qualified by law, including many individuals in the private sector. Over time, steps will be taken to further the pool from which juries will be selected. It is our expectation that the time citizens engage in jury meeting, not being insufficient will change.
“Some of the jurors were on jury duty for years, and in some cases, over a decade, making them almost ‘professional’, and not the lay group with fresh exposure to legalities that they needed to be,” she said.
