The tribunal system in Ghana's fourth republic: an experiment in judicial reintegration

Abstract

In 1982 the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) created special criminal courts known as Public Tribunals that were to adjudicate criminal matters concurrently with the established courts. They were not to replace the regular courts but were 'not to be fettered by the technical rules that in the past [had] ... enabled criminals to go free'. In 1993 when Ghana became the Fourth Republic these tribunals were reintegrated into the regular court system under the authority of the Chief Justice. This article describes this process of judicial reintegration. It deals with the challenges that faced the Ghanaian Judicial Service in implementing the provisions of the 1993 Courts Act that regulated this process, how these new tribunals have functioned in Ghana since 1995 when they were established, and the problems that they have faced, and concludes by looking at whether or not these institutions will survive if the present National Democratic Congress (NDC) government should lose the elections in 2000. Apart from important opponents' lingering suspicion of tribunals in any form, the article indicates that the current tribunal system has many weaknesses, with cost and the cumbersome nature of its personnel requirements the most significant. The tribunals will be obvious targets in any concerted attempt to streamline the Ghanaian civil