Public education on Ghana’s Case Tracking System (CTS) has been extended to the Atonsu Market in the Asokwa Municipality as part of efforts to scale up public awareness of the system.
The CTS, which seeks to promote transparency and speed from inception to the disposal of criminal cases provides information about criminal cases at every stage of the criminal justice delivery system.
Launched by the Ghana Government in 2018 with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the CTS, among other things, seeks to address poor communication between justice institutions leading to over-population in Ghanaian prisons.
As part of efforts to create awareness through citizen engagement, the USAID is supporting three Civil Society Organisations including the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Legal Resources Centre and Crime Check Foundation to implement a project dubbed, “Justice Sector Support Activity”.
It is being implemented in 147 districts across seven regions in collaboration with local CSOs.
Two local partners, Muslim Family Counselling Services and Abak Foundation are implementing the project in six municipalities in the Ashanti Region, including Kumasi Metro, Asokwa, Obuasi West, Kwabre East, Asante-Akim South, and Asante-Akim Central.
It is against this background that the Muslim Family Counselling Services has held public sensitization on the CTS and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) at the Atonsu Market in the Asokwa Municipality.
The market women were educated on the importance of the CTS and ADR in the justice delivery system and how they could take advantage when seeking justice as citizens.
Most of the women who were hearing about the CTS for the first time applauded the initiative and called for more public education to empower the citizenry to demand accountability and transparency in the criminal justice system.
Mr Tijani Mahmoud, Executive Director of Muslim Family Services said the CTS could eliminate the slow processing of documentation among the justice institutions to facilitate the speedy trial of cases.
He said most people facing criminal charges often suffered various forms of abuse as a result of undue delays in processing their cases, saying that the introduction of the CTS sought to check that practice.
He noted that the market was strategically chosen for the sensitization because it was an opportunity to reach out to people from all walks of life who converge there to transact business.
