The Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has raised concerns over the government’s proposal to reintroduce tribunals, arguing that the adjudication timelines contained in the bill are impracticable and unlikely to improve the administration of justice.
Contributing to the debate on the proposed legislation in Parliament, the legislator maintained that the tribunal system would not necessarily expedite the hearing of cases compared to the conventional courts. According to him, the structure of tribunals, which requires a panel of at least three members, could result in longer proceedings than cases heard by a single judge in the traditional courts.
He explained that each tribunal member is expected to contribute to the determination of a case, unlike the conventional courts where one judge delivers a ruling. He argued that this arrangement naturally extends the duration of proceedings.
“The length of proceedings with the tribunal is actually longer than the length of proceedings with the traditional court. When you appear before the tribunal, as opposed to the traditional court, you have three minimum members… Whereas with the traditional court, you have one judge having his say. It’s likely to be five minutes, clearly longer than the proceedings.”
Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah further contended that prescribing statutory timelines for tribunals to conclude cases was unrealistic, insisting that judicial proceedings are influenced by several factors that cannot always be controlled.
The Manhyia South MP cited existing civil court procedures to support his argument, noting that although court rules require judgments to be delivered within six weeks after the close of a trial, the provision is rarely complied with. He said the Supreme Court has already held that such timelines are administrative mechanisms whose breach does not invalidate proceedings.
“We all know that timelines for adjudication are always impracticable. They are always impracticable. The Supreme Court simply said that it’s an administrative mechanism, a breach of which, at best, can result in internal disciplinary proceedings against the judge, but it will not lead to anything. And so, very respectfully, the timelines really is much ado about nothing”
He also questioned how the proposed law would operate if a member of a tribunal panel was unavailable, arguing that the bill itself acknowledges the practical challenges associated with the timelines.
“When you check the provisions of the bill, it says ‘impracticable.’ So it recognizes the inherent impracticability and adds a caveat. From the outset, it’s a defeatist legislation.”
The legislator therefore urged Parliament to critically examine the provisions of the bill before its passage, emphasizing that any reforms to the justice delivery system should prioritize practicality, fairness and due process rather than imposing timelines that are difficult to enforce.
Source: Newspyramid.com
