'Lean on God to uplift the nation' - Judiciary urged

Right Reverend Professor Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante PhD, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, has called on the judiciary to lean on God to lift up their efforts to a higher level.

He said judges are little gods on earth and without them, there would be chaos so they must believe, trust and lean of God and yield their lives to godly things so that through them God would uplift the nation.

Rt Rev. Obiri Yeboah Mante made the call over the weekend at the 62nd Legal Year Thanksgiving service in Accra.

The event was held under the theme: “Strengthening access to justice in our court and making them more user-friendly.”

He urged judges to use their lives to do thing that were pure and true, humble themselves before God, and rededicate their lives to God no matter what position they found themselves.

He said, “We are busy grabbing many things so we are empty of God and our children will be destroyed if we do not take steps now to change the recent trends”.

Rt Rev. Obiri Yeboah Mante said things in life have both physical and eternal values and some attributes of eternal value include kindness, holiness, mercy, faithfulness, justice among others which many lack, but judges must endeavour to have them.

“A judge is an umpire, a good referee, fearless, gentle and resolute person, determined and an educator, and must know that God supersedes all things. Most judges are good people and we are thankful to God.”

“Have a fun life, always pray and give thanks to God every day, for our soul will forever be restless if we don’t believe in God.”

He prayed for God’s blessings on all judges and lawyers and to help them as they enter the new legal year and to give them the strength for the work ahead of them.

Justice Sophia A. B Akuffo, Chief Justice of Ghana, thanked the Almighty God, for seeing them through the last legal year and prayed He would extend similar, if not greater, mercies as they begun this New Year.

She said “the cause of justice, a fundamental ingredient of our Republic, was hinged on all of us doing our various jobs, performing our assigned responsibilities to standards that meet, or preferably exceed, the expectations of those we serve”.

Justice Akuffo said the introduction of the e-Justice System which seeks to make court processes easier with the introduction of electronic case filing, tracking their status and making of online and mobile money payments for court transactions, was one such tool that would help them achieve their goal.

“The system seeks to make court processes easier with the introduction of electronic case filing tracking their status and making of online and mobile money payments for court transactions. Court users will also be able to receive instant notifications of all adjournments via short message service (SMS) and email. The e-Justice System is an effective measure, which has come to reduce the burden on workers resulting in a lot more efficiency in our courts. Having started in the 44 Courts Complex, the system will in due time be rolled on to all courts in the country, Justice Akuffo said.