Newly sworn-in Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, has lamented the laborious processes some courts in the country continue to practice despite the advancement of technology.
On Monday, June 12, at the Jubilee House, the Chief Justice noted that the overarching objective, to introduce efficiency and effectiveness into case management with strategic options that allowed courts to be assiduous with adjudication has been compromised.
Bemoaning the relatively low acceptance of the digitalization drive in the judicial system, Justice Torkornoo revealed that just 62% of courts in the country use computers while tackling the issue of automation.
This implies that 48% of courts continue to use the” laborious inefficient models of taking evidence in manuscript, and managing administration.”
“After two decades of tackling the issue of automation, only 62 per cent of courts use computers as part of their work. And computerization is only the first level of automation of court processes.
“After acquiring electronic devices to capture records of court, the registry and offices of stakeholders must be networked in order to allow for the next level of automation.
“This is the national burden and we are slowed down by any sluggishness in the nation’s digitalization drive,” she said in her acceptance speech as Chief Justice.
For Justice Torkornoo, this is far from worrying as the automation of courts has morphed into the digitalization of court processes that allow for electronic filing, electronic case distribution, creation of electronic dockets and the conduct of virtual trials for over two decades ago.
Meanwhile, only 26 per cent of courts are networked and only 12 per cent of courts have been brought into the bracket of full automation in the operation through digitalization of their processes, according to the Chief Justice.
Source: The Independent Ghana