The ECOWAS Court will work with Ghana’s judiciary and other regional national judicial institutions to improve the rule of law and protect human rights in West Africa.
According to a press release issued by the Community Court of Justice, the President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Honourable Justice Edward Amoako Asante, revealed this during a courtesy call on the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, in Accra, Ghana.
Justice Asante who congratulated Ghana’s Chief Justice on her recent appointment also discussed matters of mutual interest between the ECOWAS Court and Ghana’s judiciary.
During the visit, Justice Edward Asante expressed his heartfelt congratulations to Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Torkornoo on her elevation to the high office of Chief Justice of Ghana and reaffirmed the ECOWAS Court’s commitment to working collaboratively with the Ghanaian judiciary and other national judicial institutions in the region to strengthen the rule of law and protect human rights.
On her part, Her Ladyship Justice Torkornoo expressed her gratitude to Justice Edward Asante and the ECOWAS Court for the honour of the visit and the goodwill message.
She noted that Ghana’s judiciary is committed to supporting the ECOWAS Court to discharge its mandate, and that pending legislative changes to Ghana’s civil procedure rules to enable effective enforcement of ECOWAS Court judgments, the judiciary will explore administrative options that could aid in that effort.
She further expressed the hope for increased engagement to identify common ground between ECOWAS legal texts and national laws and the enhancement of the capacities of national court judges to apply and enforce these areas of law.
The deliberations during the visit also touched on the need for regional human rights instruments such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa to be domesticated to ensure their effective implementation.
Other senior judges of Ghana’s judiciary who were present at the meeting expressed the need for legal integration in the region to be strengthened through the teaching of ECOWAS and African Union law in law schools and urged the ECOWAS Court to support such effort.
The meeting ended with an exchange of ECOWAS Court and Ghana Judicial Service paraphernalia between Justice Asante and Her Ladyship Justice Torkornoo.
Some Justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and High Court of Ghana present at the meeting were Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, Justice Amadu Tanko, Justice Henrietta Mensa- Bonsu, Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu, Justice Cyra Cynthia Koranteng (the Judicial Secretary), and Justice Nicholas Abodakpi, a Justice of the Human Rights Division of the High Court of Ghana.
Accompanying President of the ECOWAS Court were the Chief of Protocol and Conference, Mr Eric Akuete, and the Executive Assistant to the President, Dr. Christopher Nyinevi.
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