The West Gonja municipal police commander, superintendent Johnson Hesse on Friday, 18th November, 2022 appealed to the traditional authorities to allow the law take its full course following the commissioning of the circuit court complex by the Chief Justice, His Lordship, Anin Yeboah on the 15th of November, 2022.
The facility which is a child friendly court, comprises of a courtroom, secretariat, accommodation for the judge, testifying room and a holding room where children below 16 years ( victims ) are stationed to testify to the hearing of cases in the court room.
Speaking in an interview to Damongo based community radio station, PAD FM (95.1mhz), at his office in Damongo, the police commander shared his views concerning the new circuit court, encouraging the public to see the commissioning of the court as a blessing and advising the traditional authorities to limit interference and allow the court to function well to help shape society.
Supt Johnson Hesse said Damongo is a regional capital as well as a developing city and a circuit court being commissioned is a good thing for the public and the people must embrace it since it helps delivery of justice.
Superintendent Johnson Hesse added that on economic and security terms, the court will impact a lot on the lives of the people.
He explained that when cases are recorded in Damongo here, they have to travel to either Tamale or Bole to get access to a court which to him isn’t the best and hence, Damongo getting its own court is a good thing and deserves to be praised highly. The cost involved in travelling to and from Bole and Tamale will be cut down as well as the security impact of transporting people around to access those courts outside Damongo.
Responding to a question concerning the type of cases the circuit court could sit over, Superintendent Johnson Hesse told PAD FM that, the court will sit on any case that’s brought before it and then determine whether it has the capacity to prosecute or not.
He however, added that Damongo usually hasn’t been recording too many crime cases of late. “sometimes we record crimes like kidnapping, stealing and other cases” he said.
Commander Johnson Hesse appealed to the traditional authorities and other stakeholders to allow the court handle criminal cases since criminal cases cannot be settled at the chief palace and so when a case like rape, kidnapping or robbery is sent to court, the chiefs should not interfere since it prevents the laws of Ghana from working. Some cases according to him are impossible to be settled out of court and the court will definitely let the law work so justice can prevail. The municipal police commander urged the traditional leaders to help them to ensure the court functions as expected in law enforcement as well as other matters such as creating the awareness of the people to certain things so they won’t be ignorant of the law.
The commander added that the chiefs and people of the area should welcome the very good idea of having a court because Damongo is now a regional capital and a growing town.
“ We should all attend the court and support the ideas for things to work very well for the court” said the superintendent.
