Academic literature on the topic 'Ghanaian court'

On 1976, Ghana celebrated the centenary of the establishment of its Supreme Court. But this was more than a centenary of a supreme court. It was in fact the celebration of a hundred years of a national legal system. During the past century, Ghana has operated a pluralistic legal system encompassing English and other Western juristic ideas and procedures on the one hand, and Ghana's own indigenous laws on the other. The burden of this paper is to undertake an appraisal of the efficacy of this legal heritage and to consider the challenge which this legacy poses. The emphasis is not so much on the historical or analytical description of the nation's legal heritage as on a functional review of the totality of Ghana's legal experience in the light of the prevailing social and economic conditions. More precisely, to what extent have the Ghanaian courts and legislative bodies succeeded in moulding both the received law and the indigenous customary law to respond to the pressing social and economic needs of the country? Is there in fact a peculiarly Ghanaian legal tradition?The first Supreme Court was established in 1853, but its jurisdiction was confined to the coastal settlements and it could not pretend to be a national institution. The modern Ghanaian legal system was inaugurated by the Supreme Court Ordinance, 1876, which not only established a national judicial system but also prescribed the law and procedure to be applied in this court system.

It is rare for a national court to be invited to recognise and enforce a judgment from an international or regional court, as opposed to a judgment from a foreign national court. This article examines a decision of the High Court of Ghana given in respect of an application to enforce a judgment of the ECOWAS Court of Justice. The article examines the bases of the Ghanaian court's decision not to enforce the ECOWAS judgment and suggests how future cases may be decided.

Abstract The Constitution of Ghana, unlike those of other African countries such as Zimbabwe, Kenya, and South Africa is silent on the issue of the admissibility of evidence obtained through human rights violations. Jurisprudence from Ghana demonstrates that although there had been cases in which the High Court and the Court of Appeal briefly dealt with this type of evidence, the Supreme Court, the highest court in Ghana, had not expressed an opinion on this issue until recently. In February 2018, in the case of Cubagee v Asare and Others, the Supreme Court laid down the criteria that Ghanaian courts have to use in determining the admissibility of evidence obtained through human rights violations. In this article, the author argues that much as this is an important decision, the Supreme Court left some issues unresolved and there is still room for improvement.

Abstract This study investigates the extent to which mostly untrained interpreters render accurately the voices of participants in Ghanaian district courts, and how the participants orient to shortcomings in the interpretations. Based on 7.5 hours of audio-recordings, we found that 91% of interpretations were accurate. The 9% of interpretations that were inaccurate were of five types: non-equivalence in propositional content, omissions, elaborations, incorrect grammatical forms and literal translations. We also found that on some occasions, inaccurate interpretations are corrected by other court participants, making the interpreting activity a collaborative effort. Judges were the most likely to intervene when an interpretation went wrong, perhaps a reflection of the sense of responsibility felt by them for anything that happens in their courtroom.

This multi-sourced paper explores the relationship between the chieftaincy institution and the Ghanaian state in the 19th and 20th centuries. It specifically looks at how the relationship between the two has evolved in the overlapping political and economic spheres and how the metamorphosing conceptualization of development on both sides fits into it. Using mainly Asante references,1 this paper argues that the relationship between the state (colonial and post-colonial) and chieftaincy in both spheres has been determined by the policies of the former to either court or curtail the power of the latter when it suits its politics. Chiefs on the other hand, recognizing the nature of this relationship, have skilfully played a “survival politics” strategy in order to remain relevant in the economic and political spheres. This strategy in recent years includes (re)identifying itself with prevailing concepts such as development and either utilising, or readjusting local ideologies where necessary, in order to ensure their own institutional survival.
 
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 1 The examples utilised in this paper focus on the experience of chieftaincy in southern Ghana, particularly Asante and Akan in general. This is not because happenings in chieftaincy in northern Ghana are not significant. Rather it is because the study is based on the southern experience, particularly, that of the Asante. While the Asante chieftaincy institution does not always mirror the nature of chieftaincy in the entire southern Ghana, its scope and reach presents an important case study to measure the extent of changes that occurred during the 19th and 20th centuries.

This article argues for the strengthening and entrenchment of socio-economic rights provisions in Ghana's jurisprudence. The purpose of this entrenchment is to engender judicial activism in promoting more creative pathways for enforcing socio-economic rights in Ghana. The article traces the development of socio-economic rights in Ghana's jurisprudence, especially the influence of the requirements of the international rights movement, particularly of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The article delves into the constitutional history of Ghana and its impact on the evolution of rights in the country. Of particular historical emphasis is the emergence of socio-economic rights under the Directive Principles of State Policy in the 1979 Constitution. However, the significance of the socio-economic rights only became profound with the return to democratic rule under the 1992 Constitution, again under a distinct chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy. However, unlike its counterpart, the chapter on the Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, which is directly enforceable, the Directive Principles of State Policy were not. It took the Supreme Court of Ghana a series of landmark decisions until finally, in 2008, it arrived at a presumption of justiciability in respect of all of the provisions in the 1992 Constitution. It is evident that prior to this, the Supreme Court was not willing to apply the same standards of adjudication and enforcement as it ordinarily applies in respect of rights under the chapter on Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms. Having surmounted the non-justiciability hurdle, what is left is for the courts to begin to vigorously pursue an agenda that puts socio-economic rights at the centre of Ghana's rights adjudication framework. The article draws on comparative experiences from India and South Africa to showcase the extent of judicial creativity in rights adjudication. In India, the courts have been able to work around provisions restricting the enforcement of Directive Principles by often connecting them to Fundamental Freedoms. In South Africa, there is no hierarchy between civil and political rights on the one hand and socio-economic rights on the other; for that reason, the courts give equal ventilation to both sets of rights. The article further analyses these examples in the light of ongoing constitutional reforms in Ghana. It argues that these reforms fall short of the activism required to propel socio-economic rights adjudication to the forefront in Ghana's jurisprudence. In this regard, the article proposes social movements as a viable tool for socio-economic rights advocacy by recounting its success in previous controversial issues in Ghana. The article also connects this to other important building blocks like building socio-economic rights into a national development blueprint. Overall, the article calls for an imaginative socio-economic rights enforcement approach that is predicated on legislation, judicial activism, social movements and a national development blueprint aimed at delivering a qualitative life for the Ghanaian.

Purpose – How trust affects political, social, and economic phenomena have been studied by scholars for many years. However, not many studies have examined what factors determine trust among people and trust in public institutions. There is particularly a dearth of research on trust in Ghana. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use data from the 2012 Afrobarometer Surveys to mimic four sets of variables that Alesina and La Ferrara (2002) find as significant determinants of trust – recent traumatic experiences, having been historically discriminated against, being economically unsuccessful, and living in a mixed community. The authors apply these variables to the Ghanaian context to explore how they affect generalized trust, trust in relatives, neighbors, and other people the respondent knows, as well as trust in six public institutions (i.e. The President, Parliament, Electoral Commission, Police, Army, and the Courts of Law). Findings – The authors find that trust among Ghanaians is generally low. Women are significantly less trusting of public institutions, although they do not trust people (e.g. relatives, neighbors, etc.) any less than men. Both people of the North and South are generally less trusting of public institutions compared to people of the Volta Region. The authors also find that, to a large extent, satisfaction with democracy and political affiliation are significantly correlated with trust in public institutions. Practical implications – Because trust is very crucial for political, economic, and social development, especially good governance, there is an urgent need for public policy interventions that could increase trust among Ghanaians. Originality/value – The authors provide a Ghanaian perspective on the determinants of trust.

Background. Urogenital schistosomiasis is a widely contracted parasitic helminth infection often associated with haematological abnormalities.Aim. We investigated the relationship between the haematological profile and the intensity of schistosomiasis among children in the Yeji district.Materials and Methods. A total of 100 participants comprising 50Schistosoma haematobium(S. haematobium) infected and 50 noninfected controls aged 6–17 years matched for age and sex were recruited into the study. Blood and urine samples were collected and haematological profile and presence ofS. haematobiumeggs were assessed using standard protocols.Results. Haemoglobin (HGB) (P<0.0001), haematocrit (HCT) (P<0.0001), mean cell volume (MCV) (P=0.0053), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH) (P<0.0001), and mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) (P=0.005) levels were reduced in cases compared to controls. Mixed cell percentage (MXD) (P=0.018) and red blood cell distribution width (RDW-CV) (P=0.012) were significantly elevated among cases as compared to controls. Haematuria was a clinical characteristic of heavy infection.Conclusion.S. haematobiuminfection creates an imbalance in the haematological profile. We found low HGB, HCT, MCV, MCH, and MCHC levels coupled with increased % MXD count and RDW-CV. Also, low MCV, MCH, and MCHC and high % MXD count are independently associated withS. haematobiuminfection among our study participants.

Introduction. Male infertility is known to contribute about half of all infertility cases. In Ghana, the prevalence of male infertility is higher (15.8%) than in females (11.8%). Sperm quality is associated with the likelihood of pregnancy and known to be the cause of male fertility problems 90% of the time. Exposure to certain environmental factors reduces semen quality in men. The study examined the effects of environmental and lifestyle factors on semen quality in Ghanaian men. Materials and Methods. This was a cross-sectional study involving 80 apparent healthy adult males in their reproductive age. Participants were males referred to the laboratory (Immunology Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital) for semen analysis test and/or culture and sensitivity. Participants were made to fill out a questionnaire which entailed selected environmental factors (accidents or trauma, exposure to chemicals, radiation, and heat) and lifestyle habits (including alcohol consumption, smoking, and whether participants sat more or less than 4 hours per day). Semen samples were then collected by masturbation into sterile containers and analysed in accordance with WHO guidance for semen analysis within 60 minutes after ejaculation and collection. Results. About 69% of participants had semen pH within the normal range compared to 15% whose pH were lower than 7.2. There was a significantly high number of immotile sperm cells ( p value = 0.017) in participants who sat for more than 4 hours as compared to those that sat for less than 4 hours in a day. Active sperm motility and viability showed significant increase ( p value = 0.002 and 0.009, respectively) in participants who kept their cell phones in their side pockets. Smoking produced a twofold decrease in sperm count as smokers had a significantly lower sperm count ( 12.28 ± 10.95 × 10 6 /ml) compared to the smoke-free ( 23.85 ± 22.14 × 10 6 /ml). For exposure to STDs, no significant differences were recorded among study groups concerning semen quality. Conclusion. Sperm quality in Ghanaian men is associated with lifestyle habits. Smoking and sitting for long hours influenced sperm motility and count, respectively. Knowledge of the factors that influence sperm quality in this geographical region can contribute to informed decisions on effective management of infertility in Ghanaian men.

Maasa is a spontaneously fermented millet-based fried cake in Ghana. Nixtamalization, a process of cooking and soaking cereals (usually maize) in lime solution, was applied in the traditional processing of the Ghanaian millet-based fermented maasa. During the processing, Lime cooked millet dough (LCMD) and water soaked millet dough (WSMD) samples were analyzed for proximate composition, pH, total titratable acidity and microbial counts were assessed for fermenting millet dough samples. Finally, maasa prepared from nixtamalized and non-nixtamalized fermented millet dough samples were assessed for consumer sensory acceptability on a five-point hedonic scale. Nixtamalization improved crude protein and ash contents of millet dough samples whereas fat and fiber contents decreased. During fermentation, a reduction in pH and increase in total titratable acidity was observed for both nixtamalized and non-nixtamalized millet dough samples. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts count reached 9.4 and 8.0 logcfu/g respectively for non-nixtamalized millet after 14 hours of fermentation, whereas for nixtamalized millet samples, LAB and yeasts count reached 7.6 and 7.5 logcfu/g respectively. Consumer sensory evaluation of Maasa produced from nixtamalized fermented millet had improved texture, colour and overall acceptability as compared to the traditional non-nixtamalized fermented millet-based maasa. Nixtamalization can thus be applied in the production of Ghanaian millet-based maasa to improve nutritional quality and acceptability as well as maintain the benefits associated with traditional cereal fermentation.