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A recent Afrobarometer survey has revealed three most important barriers that prevent Ghanaians from using the formal justice system. These include high costs, long delays and a bias in favor of the rich and powerful. According to the World Justice Project (2019), Ghana’s justice sector was adjudged Africa’s sixth-best in the 2019 Rule of Law Index, dropping from first position in 2018.
In a news release by Afrobarometer, Ghana is a signatory to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Maputo Protocol, both of which oblige the state to ensure that citizens have access to the delivery of justice.
Nonetheless, conditions necessary to ensure efficient and equal access to judicial systems, such as affordability, proximity, comprehensibility, and responsiveness, are not in place for a number of Ghanaians.
Salome Donkor (2019), in a news article published by Daily Graphic noted that the Legal Aid Commission, which has the mandate of rendering free legal services to citizens, operates mainly in the major cities, inhibiting access by the poor and vulnerable.
One of the key findings of the recent Afrobarometer survey revealed that among respondents who had contact with the judicial system during the previous year: about half (52%) rate the level of corruption in the judicial system as “high” or “very high.”
On the other hand, fewer than one in three, rate the judicial system favorably (with “high” or “very high” ratings) on independence (31%), professionalism (30%), fairness (21%), responsiveness (18%) and transparency (16%).
In conclusion, the survey noted that it is critical that the reforms in the Anti-Corruption Action Plan for the judicial sector be fully implemented to instill integrity and promote transparency and accountability in the justice system.
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, nonpartisan survey research network that provides reliable data on Africans’ experiences and evaluations of quality of life, governance, and democracy. Afrobarometer conducts face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice with nationally representative samples.
The Afrobarometer team in Ghana, led by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), interviewed 2,400 adult Ghanaians between 16 September and 3 October 2019. Previous surveys were conducted in Ghana in 1999, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2017.
