The Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Gertrude Torkonoo has opened 12 special courts dedicated to small claims and debt recovery cases.

Eight of these courts are located in the Greater Accra Region while four of them are situated in the Ashanti Region.

The courts were created following an observation of a spike in small claims cases filed at the district court in Ghana. The increase has been attributed to cases filed by a single company Bills MicroCredit.

Justice Esaaba Torkonoo at the opening of the courts noted that ‘the data further revealed that over 70% of the total cases filed by Bills MicroCredit were for claims less than GHC 5,000.”

This situation then increased the workload of the district courts which already were overwhelmed, thereby undermining the court shift system that was introduced by the Judicial Service.

To address this, the Judicial Service with support from the Bills MicroCredit company created the small claims and debt recovery courts to clear these cases.

The courts in the discharge of their duties will sit every working day in the afternoons and on Saturdays.

“For the Greater Accra Region, District Court, Ashaiman, District Court, Teshie, District Court, Kasoa and District Court, La, will operate as the Saturday courts while District Court, Weija, District Court, Sowutuom, District Court ‘2’, Adenta and District Court, Gbese will operate as the weekday afternoon courts,” Chief Justice Torkonoo noted during the opening of the courts.

The head of the judiciary at the opening of the courts at the La District Courts expressed appreciation to Bills MicroCredit for opting to support the operations of the 12 courts.

Meanwhile the CEO of Bills MicroCredit, Richard Quaye, on the other hand, noted that the courts will go a long way to boost their business. He explained that his outfit has so far filed 30,000 cases across the country.

‘One significant challenge we have faced is the sheer volume of defaulters resulting in our need to resort to the courts for recovery — over 30,000 — filed by our company seeking expedited hearings.

“The establishment of the new Small Claims Court will greatly alleviate the burden on our judicial system, ensuring that cases are resolved more quickly and efficiently,” Richard Quaye said at the opening of the courts.