Stakeholders call for amendment of Criminal Offence Act To make way for Alternative Dispute Resolution
Stakeholders have called on Government to amend the current Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act, 2012 Act 849 that prescribes harsh punishment for minor offences to make room for Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADR) as an option to deal with minor offences.
According to some stakeholders, such development will free up our prisons from overcrowding and reduce the case loads at the various courts in the country.
The two day stakeholder conference educated participants on the roles and functions of Ghana’s Case Tracking System, Alternative Dispute Resolution and, access to justice in the country with support of Commonwealth Human Right Initiative under the USAID Justice Sector Supported (JSS) Activity at Takoradi( SSNIT Auditorium and Akroma Plaza) from 27th to 28th April 2022.
Speaking on side-line of the event, Mrs Adelaide Kobiri-Woode, Attoney’s General Office, Sekondi suggested that for effective implementation of ADR, government must first amend the Criminal Offence Act that has already prescribed punishments for minor offences and among others. According to her, it is on this basis that ADR can have room to preside over minor offenses with proper legal backing.
”I was calling for the amendment of the criminal offences Act, Act 29 and Act 30 because the conference here today was on amending the alternative dispute resolution act and the Legal aid Commission Act. It is my humble view that you cannot in isolation amend those acts without amending the Criminal offence’s Act itself because what ever an offense is and the punishment associated with that offence has already been taken care of by criminal offences Act” so if you have not emended the criminal offence Act being Act 29 and you go ahead to amend ADR act to take care of what we call minor offences, then it appears that there is vacuum else where”.
She further added that even though it is a great call for the amendment of alternative dispute resolution and the Legal Aid Commission Act but that cannot be done in isolation until the grand law is amended to make room for all other provisions to work.
”Therefore even though we are calling for the amendment of ADR Act and Legal Aid Commission Act, we are looking at a wholistic approach such that the mother laws will be taken care of before we look at others that will allow minor offences to be taken charge by alternative dispute resolution”.
Supt Ibrahim Yakubu, Paralegal Officer of Sekondi Central Prisons also added that effective implementation of alternative dispute resolution, will pave way for the court to concentrate on major offenses, it will also give time for the prison to reform inmate.
”The use of alternative dispute resolution will reduce the case load on the court by providing room for serious offence like robbery murder among others. He added that the decongetion will provide more space to reduce mixing of first offenders with hardened criminals”.
During the two day special event, the general public had the opportunity on the first day to share their views on the ills of the legal system while they got empowered on the need to be ambassadors for the Ghana Case Tracking System.
Congestion in Ghana’s prisons has been one of the topical issue which has generated controversy on the need for the prisons to be decongested.
Overcrowding at Ghana’s prisons is still a amajor subject of concern in the country’s legal system. Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) in 2018 said that , congestion in the country’s prisons has increased by 45 per cent – 14,368 convicts instead of the designed capacity to accommodate 9,878 inmates.
