The Chief Justice (CJ), Her Lordship Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood, has conceded that there is a considerable degree of corruption in the judiciary, noting that the trend is no longer a matter of just perception. She therefore called for an attitudinal change in the interest of the reputation of members. Speaking at the launch of a Report on Judicial Corruption Monitoring Exercise in Ghana, which concluded that corruption in the judiciary was a reality, Mrs. Wood said the indictment, though created by a few people among them, had tainted the entire institution. She expressed worry at the revelation, but thanked the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), which conducted the research, saying it was a good opportunity for the Service to take stock and truthfully confront the issue. "This is by far the most difficult duty for me to perform to deliver the keynote address at the launch of a report that indicts the Judiciary and concludes that the phenomenon of judicial corruption is real and not a perception," she said. The CJ reminded her colleagues that a high level of integrity was crucial for the survival of constitutional democracy anywhere, and urged them to be very thankful to the leaders of GII for taking it upon themselves to delve into the allegation. "Corruption poses a huge threat to our legitimacy and limits rather severely our capacity to effectively fulfill our constitutional mandate. When we remind ourselves of the ills that corruption has wrecked on our continent, we would commend, and not condemn all those who have dedicated themselves to fighting this evil canker," she stressed. The CJ was however, optimistic that with recently announced efforts by government to improve the lots of judges, things would change for the better. According to her, "There is one good reason why I believe things should change and not remain as they are," emphasizing that the report identified low remuneration as one of the immediate causes of corruption in the Service. She further called the attention of her colleagues to the fact that there was no way they could lead any crusade if their images were tainted with the very vices they were tasked to fight against, citing lack of moral authority and political will to do so. Concluding, Mrs. Wood promised to do all in her power and if possible, fall on international institutions, to reverse the trend. "I would like to give a firm assurance to the good people of Ghana that the Judicial Council is committed to using all available resources at our disposal to ensuring that judicial corruption is reduced to the barest minimum.” The GII research, conducted mainly in Accra, ¬Tema and Kumasi, said over 52 per cent of judges and magistrates, 64.2 per cent of lawyers and 51.3 per cent of litigants agreed judicial corruption was real. What has not been determined is the extent to which the incidence of corruption affects judicial performance and ultimately the economic development of the country. Present at the launch were Dr. Audrey Gadzekpo, Dr. Dominic Ayine, Maulvi Wahab Adam, Vitus Azeem, all of GII and Mrs. Leonora Kyeremanteng of the National Governance Office. Source: Daily Guide