The Minority in Parliament has opposed the reintroduction of tribunal courts, arguing that it could become an avenue for creating jobs for party loyalists to jail opponents.
The caucus insists that the existing court structure under the Fourth Republic, which includes District Magistrate Courts, Circuit Courts, High Courts, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, should rather be strengthened to improve justice delivery.
Contributing to the debate on the Tribunals Bill, 2026, the Member of Parliament for Damongo, Samuel Jinapor, questioned the need for establishing additional courts when the current judicial institutions could be expanded and better resourced.
He argued that instead of creating new judicial bodies, the government should invest in building more court facilities, appointing more judges and recruiting additional judicial staff to address delays in the justice system.
“Why additional courts? Mr Speaker, with the greatest of respect, why do we like to create new institutions every now and then? We have High Courts; why have Regional Tribunals” he said
Jinapor said Ghana could address challenges within the judiciary by following the approach of the previous administration, which he noted invested in the construction of several court complexes across the country.
“Build more court complexes, recruit more judges, recruit more judicial staff, and if you want a jury system, let’s have a jury system,” he stated .
The Damongo MP further expressed concern that the proposed tribunal system could be exploited for political purposes, cautioning against the creation of institutions that could be used to target opponents of a sitting government.
“I don’t want to believe this is ‘jobs for the boys.’ I don’t want to believe that we want to recruit some lawyers from certain quarters and make them chairpersons of regional tribunals, get two people to become members of regional tribunals and have jobs,” he said.
He maintained that Ghana should rely on its existing judicial framework, describing the proposed regional tribunals as a return to a system that could evoke “bad memories, scary memories and intimidation.”
“Let’s have the existing court system. Let’s have the District Magistrate Court, the Circuit Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court. That is the judicial system in all civilized, developed countries in the world. We do not want regional tribunals. They bring about bad memories,” he added.
Meanwhile the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine says the reintroduction of the tribunal courts system is aimed at providing ordinary Ghanaians with greater access to the justice delivery system.
He assured that any excesses associated with the tribunal system will be addressed, with its procedures guided by the provisions of the Constitution.
