Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has intervened to get striking jurors in the Ashanti region to call off their action.
The striking jurors agreed to return to work on Monday, 20th November 2023 following a meeting with the Chief Justice.
Since the beginning of November 2023, jurors in the Ashanti region abandoned duty due to unpaid allowances and have been urging the government to step in to address their concerns before they return to the courts.
The strike action disrupted legal proceedings including cases of murder and other high-profile cases in the region.
Despite the government releasing funds to cover three months out of the thirteen months owed them, the jurors refused to return to court explaining that the available funds were insufficient.
The Chief Justice during her visit to Kumasi to address the issue noted that although plans were in place to meet the aggrieved jurors, she was pushed to work on it urgently following a Citi News report that highlighted the plight of the jurors.
The Chief Justice thus urged the jurors to resume work, as she has expressed a strong commitment to ensuring all their concerns are addressed promptly.
“Certain jurors are indeed working in more than one court and I don’t even know how that should happen in the first place because the juror system is not meant to be a standard but allowances in the public sector come late and we need to take steps to ensure it does not overly delay”.
“Come to work on Monday and I am going to ensure that your allowances are paid in November and also ensure that the allowances stop delaying”.
The general foreman for the jurors in the Ashanti region, Albert Ackah assured that they will return to the courts on Monday to perform their duties.
“We met the Chief Justice and she asked us to come to work on Monday and we have agreed to return and as she promised, she said she is going to ensure that our allowances stop coming late and that is what we have been expecting all along and we are grateful and so we are returning to the court to perform the duties that the state has assigned us to perform.”
