Justice delivery at the Sege Magistrate Court in the Ada West District of the Greater Accra Region has become a herculean task, because the presiding Magistrate has to travel 144 kilometres every Monday and Thursday from Doryumu in the Shai Osudoku District to perform his justice delivery duties.
The situation has come about due to the absence of an official residential accommodation for the sitting Magistrate, who is left with no option than to commute between Doryumu, where he has a private residential accommodation, and Sege.
The Chronicle gathered from Sege that the long distance travel to dispense justice naturally has a fatigue effect on the man who is of age.
The paper is also informed from reliable sources that the situation is also having adverse effects on the delivery of justice, since cases are not dealt with on time through no fault of the judge.
Instances were mentioned when the vehicle being used by the Magistrate suffers mechanic defects, and the listed cases had to be adjourned.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Ada West, Mr. Sampson Kpankpan, bemoaned the plight of both the judge and court when contacted by The Chronicle.
According to him, hitherto, the Magistrate at Ada East, who is blessed with a duty bungalow, was taking care of the District Court at Sege until the Ada West was carved from the East.
This, he said, had positioned the newly-carved Ada West with the responsibility to provide an official residential accommodation for the new judge.
According to the DCE, the Assembly was making every effort to put up residential accommodation, but until that happened, they had to rent a place for the judge, but lack of cash was delaying the implementation of the plan.
Presently, he went on, the Assembly had secured a three-bedroom house at GH¢1,500.00, but they were unable to raise the two years rent advance, which was GH¢36,000.
Mr. Kpankpan used the opportunity to appeal to Electro Chem Limited in charge of salt mining at Songhor, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and philanthropists to come to their aid to secure the much-needed residential accommodation for the District Magistrate.
