Her Ladyship the Chief Justice, Mrs. Justice Georgina Wood, Wednesday formally opened the Criminal Session of the new legal year at a High Court Accra and urged all stakeholders to work closely together with diligence and passion in order to overcome the challenges that confront the current criminal justice system. To this end she entreated particularly jurors, prosecuting teams, defence counsel, police investigators, prison officers, witnesses, court staff, judicial officers, the media and the general public to collaboratively work extra hard "to make this assizes a huge success. The Chief Justice said that for the new year, 69 cases had been listed for hearing in the Criminal Session, adding that 33 people will be tried for murder, 12 for manslaughter, 19 for rape, four for use of offensive weapons and one for having unnatural carnal knowledge. "We expect all those involved in this session to acquit themselves diligently and conscientiously to assist the Court to meet the targets set", she added. Addressing one of the challenges facing the criminal justice system, Mrs. Wood said that because of their indictment, "some cases have pended at the courts for long periods, with most of the accused persons being kept in custody as remand prisoners. "This is a blot on our human rights record", she stated, adding that "we all have a sacred duty to assist in a fair and speedy adjudication of all criminal cases". The Chief Justice therefore urged the leadership of the Ghana Bar Association to appeal to its members to honour their vows and social obligation to the nation in the critical period of development of justice. The Attorney General, and Minister of Justice, Mrs, Betty Mould Iddrisu, emphasized the duty of the state to protect its citizens and ensure order in the society. "Crimes have always existed wherever people can be found. Every civilized society however ensures that perpetrators of crimes and offenders are punished and where appropriate victims compensated. Our criminal jurisprudence evolved out of this need to maintain law and order," she stated. Additionally, she said "the Ministry is to work closely together with all stakeholders to ensure that the challenges that the system is now fraught with will be overcome", explaining that "many cases on the list are very old, some dating back to as far as 1994, and 1996, while there is a serious lack of lawyers who would want to do a pro-bono cases. "The opening of the current session should send a signal to all that Ghana still believes in the rule of Law as the basis of good governance." Source: Ghanaian Times/ Ghana