The government has approved a new salary structure for staff of the Judicial Service.
In a press statement issued last Monday, the President of the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG), Samuel Afotey, said the implementation of the salary structure was expected to take effect this month.
The association commended the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, for her ingenuity and exceptional leadership with various stakeholders to arrive at the decision.
“We are further gratified by the commitment of the Chief Justice to see to the passage into law a Judicial Service Regulation (Constitutional Instrument – CI) in accordance with Article 158(2), 159, and the case of JUSAG vs The Attorney General & 2 Ors (2016),” it said.
The release expressed the hope that comprehensive work on the CI would bring an end to the biennial strikes associated with salary reviews.
“We shall work with her and management to rebrand the Judicial Service and build upon the successes chalked up by the judiciary and the service over the years,” the statement said.
JUSAG on May 24, this year declared an indefinite strike to drum home its demand for the government to review salaries of members.
The association said, per the Constitution, the salaries of staff of the service had to be reviewed by the President, acting on the advice of the Judicial Council and that by convention, the said review was done every two years.
However, JUSAG indicated that the President failed to implement the recommendation by the Judicial Council on February 2023 for the salary review.
Justice delivery across the country came to a standstill as the various courts were reduced to a graveyard ambience, barely 24 hours after the strike was declared.
A working visit by the Daily Graphic revealed that the legal system grounded to a halt as the courts were deserted.
The team observed that all the court premises were locked, making it virtually impossible for lawyers, prosecutors and persons with cases pending before the courts to gain access.
The entrance to the courts were locked, with red bands tied at the main gates of many of them.
Some court users and litigants who were not aware of the strike and had travelled from far and near to access the services of the courts, were frustrated because there were no officials to attend to them.
