Former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong has urged the judiciary to work very hard to win the trust of Ghanaians in believing in the court to deliver justice.
Addressing Judges and lawyers on Friday, June 30, 2023, in Kumasi at the 41st anniversary of Martyrs Day which commemorates the abduction and killing of three High Court Judges and a retired Army Officer, the Theologian said many Ghanaians have lost trust in the judiciary to dispense justice.
“There’s still a notion in this country that justice is for the highest bidder, justice is for the privileged individual. That is why there are people who still hold the notion in this country, the perception that justice is better served at the shrine than at the court. We are in Kumasi, many people seeking justice rather prefer invoking the wrath of deities and consulting shrines to settle their matter rather than going to court.
“So, there are those who think going to court is a waste of time, go come go come, a waste of time. They trust the shrines and prayer centers more than you people. We need to work on this. Forty-one years ago, we condemned, and we continue, today we are still condemning acts of injustice in this country, and we are still moving on.”
Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong who’s a Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) charged the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to provide legal literacy to the public.
“There is legal illiteracy in Ghana, people are so ignorant and the painful side of the story is the unsustainable support system. There are people who don’t know what to do, if you are lucky to have a lawyer friend in your church at the end of the service you walk to the Pastor and call the lawyer, but how many people have lawyers in their church and how many lawyers are prepared to do this?
“So there are people who have… the police will say this is a fine case, but they don’t know where to go because the support system is not there. They don’t understand how the legal system functions. We are a nation where people are still hurt.”