[Pictured: Madina District Magistrate Court]

Some of the designated courts selected to pilot the shift system of court sittings have began sitting in shifts with a number yet to commence implementing the policy which was scheduled to commence on Monday the 25th day of March, 2024.

A visit by The Law Platform to the Madina District Court indicates the policy is yet to commence at this court as the gates to the Court premises were locked well before 6pm, some 30 minutes before the stipulated closing time of 6:30pm sanctioned by the Chief Justice.

The policy is well underway at the Adenta High Court 1 and not High Court 2. Per sources of The Law Platform at the Adenta Court complex, some of the cases at the Adenta High Court 2 have been transferred to the afternoon shift of Adenta High Court 1 and therefore a possible reason why Adenta High Court 2 is yet to run the shift system it has been designated to run.

The Law Platform can also confirm that the Weija Circuit Court is yet to begin the shift system it is earmarked to run per the Chief Justice's Circular dated 14th March, 2024. At the La District Court, officers of the Court and Magistrate are yet to begin the pilot program as the Judicial Service is yet to dispatch an afternoon shift judge to the Court. Sources of The Law Platform at the court suggest an afternoon shift judge will be in to begin the afternoon shift shortly after the Easter break.

Reception by lawyers and prosecutors

Court cases in the afternoon shift of the Adenta High Court 1 may be suggestive of an embrace by lawyers to do court business at late hours of the day despite a legal tradition of conduct of court business in the mornings to early midday.

Same may not be the case for police prosecutors whose official work hours are between 8am - 5pm. This observation by The Law Platform stems from the difficulty of a police prosecutor to accept an afternoon shift suggested by the La District Magistrate Judge during a case management conference in a criminal matter before the court. Counsel for the accused, the learned Jonathan Owusu Asare Esq. was open to conducting court business int the afternoon shift suggested by the court contrary to the resistance offered by the police prosecutor.

This may therefore suggest an important observation and possible consideration by the Judicial Service, the Attorney-General and the Ghana Police Service to regulate work shifts of police prosecutors to sync with the court shifts of their cases.

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Move from 6:30pm - 8:30pm as closing time

Our sources at the Judicial Service suggests a directive from the Chief Justice for court sitting hours for the afternoon shift to be between 2:30pm - 8:30pm, an extra two hours in addition to the early on communicated closing time of 6:30pm.

The Law Platform will monitor the piloting of the policy and will update readers on any further developments.