At least 13 criminal cases at the Kumasi High Court have had to be adjourned due to the absence of the jurors in just a week.
The jurors have abandoned their duties over unpaid allowance from August 2022.
“From November 6 to 14, we have missed 13 cases. We have more than 10 cases too to handle by the close of the week so if we are unable to resume this week, it means those ones will also be adjourned.
“We are not happy with the development because it is delaying justice delivery but the issue is that we don’t have money to come to the court. Some of the members live as far as Mankranso and they have to come to the high court in Kumasi every day. So, if this allowance that will support them is not paid, how can they come?” Foreman General for the Jurors Association, Albert Ackah told OnuaOnline
The trial of a police inspector, Ahmed Twumasi over the death of his girlfriend, Veronica Dapaah and the trial of a 25-year-old tailor apprentice over the death of the KNUST level 200 student at Sewuah were all adjourned due to the absence of the jurors even though the accused persons, state and defense counsels were all present in court.
Though government has, on Tuesday November 14, 2023, released monies to clear five out of sixteen months allowance arrears of jurors in the Ashanti region, there is no guarantee of their resumption of services.
“The regional accountant has just shown me a cheque for August to December 2022 allowances. But I’m yet to meet my people tomorrow to discuss whether we will resume or not because members were expecting the arrears to be cleared up to July 2023 at least.
“Most of our members will just use the money to pay from people we borrowed from so if I persuade them and they are unwilling to come, I can’t compel them,” Mr Ackah noted.
The jurors in Ghana’s justice system determine whether an accused person is guilty of an offence he or she has been charged with, based on the evidence presented in court, while the judge passes a sentence based on the verdict of the jury.
The jury system is employed in Ghana for offences that are tried on indictment.
Such offences include capital offences such as murder and first-degree felonies such as rape, manslaughter and narcotics.
Jurors in Ghana are composed of seven individuals randomly selected from a list composed mainly, if not exclusively, of civil servants.
For the many justice seekers who have cases at the Kumasi High Court, coming to court without your case being heard is troubling and causes undue delays in justice delivery.
But until the jurors resume, all criminal cases that require their services would have to continue suffering from needless adjournments.
READ ALSO: Kumasi police killer case: Family of deceased plead with gov’t to pay jurors to expedite trial
By Ibrahim Abubakar|AkomaFM|Onuaonline.com
