Former Chief Justice and legal luminary, VCRAC Crabbe, has suggested that Ghana adopts modern technology in its court processes in addition to the manual work it already carries out.
He said despite the important role that technology can play in ensuring effective justice delivery, the manual system must not be ignored.
He opined that the introduction of information technology into the legal system (e-court system), brings with itself a number of disadvantages, saying, “Technology cannot do everything for us; how do we use technology to answer a question which is asked in cross-examination? It’s the human mind”.
“There are certain matters which we can use technology, for example, pleadings, statements, defence: all these things can be done electronically, but in the end, the judge has to write his judgment. How does he do it? He is going to do it on paper”, he added.
Justice VCRAC Crabbe made the comment in Cape Coast at the annual lectures of the Legal Luminaries Platform of Law Students of the University of Cape Coast.
The programme, which brought together students and faculty members of the College of Legal Studies of the University of Cape Coast and senior high school students from some schools within Cape Coast, is the third since the College’s inception.
There have been calls for the country to accelerate efforts at implementing an e-court system which will see the courts use technologies like audio recording, audio, and computer conferencing through systems such as biometric identification, as well as dictation capturing software to help save time and writing of judgments.
However, VCRAC Crabbe warns that Ghana should be cautious in fully migrating to an e-court system, indicating that, “Don’t forget that these electronic systems have their difficulties and we have to guard against that, and I think one of the things we have to do is to consider the disadvantages and if the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, then we had better be careful because we know some of these things can be hacked”.
The retired Chief Justice also suggested the need for all stakeholders to reach a consensus on the intake of students at both training institutions and the Ghana Law School, proposing that a general agreement by all parties will end the admission brouhaha that is recently a subject of a legal tussle.
He noted, “The problem we are facing is a question of numbers, and I think the time has come for a dialogue between the Council of Legal education and all that are interested in legal education, especially the universities and the university colleges to come together to dialogue”.
He however noted that many people now want to enter the law profession, hence the need to regulate entrance into the profession.
