The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, said on Friday that a robust, impartial and independent judiciary free from improper pressure or influence of any kind was important for democracy and good governance.
"Lack of judicial independence, judicial corruption and other forms of unethical behaviour, inefficiency and delays in court processes, ineffectiveness of court orders are some of the hard-hitting criticisms, which are sometimes hurled against the judiciary," she said.
The Chief Justice said this at a two-day workshop on Developing Monitoring and Evaluation Systems for Judges and Magistrates.
She said as key partners in national development, the various administrative, legal and other technical reforms that were being pursued were aimed at improving institutional and individual capacity and efficiency in line with accepted international standards.
Mrs Justice Georgina Wood said the judiciary should not perceive the monitoring and evaluation of their work output as undesired interference
with their independence
She said they should see it as a means of enhancing integrity, accountability and transparency and with a broader aim of improving justice delivery and enhancing public trust and confidence in the judiciary.
Mrs Georgina Wood expressed her gratitude to the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) who, for several years, have partnered the Judicial
Service of Ghana in the implementation of Anti-Corruption activities under the Judicial Reform programme
The workshop is aimed at helping the Judicial Council to develop and establish a Monitoring and Evaluation System for judges and magistrates with an objective to provide a framework, effective tools and proper benchmarks
for assessing their performance and management in a more structured, transparent and reliable manner.
The implementation of a functioning monitoring and evaluation system is expected to increase the performance of the courts as well as judges and magistrates.