Chief Justice opens 12 courts to deal with credit and debt recovery

The Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Gertrude Torkonoo, has established 12 special courts, dedicated to handling small claims and debt recovery cases.

Currently, eight of the newly opened courts are situated in the Greater Accra Region while four are located in the Ashanti Region.

The courts were established in response to a surge in small claims filed at the district court in Ghana. The increase has been attributed to cases filed by a single company Bills MicroCredit.

At the opening of the courts, The Chief Justice noted that “data further revealed that over 70% of the total cases filed by Bills MicroCredit were for claims less than GHC 5,000”.

This situation has increased the workload of the already overwhelmed district courts, undermining the introduced court shift system by the Judicial Service.

To address this, the Judicial Service, with support from the Bills MicroCredit company created the small claims and debt recovery courts to clear these cases.

The courts will convene every weekday afternoon and on Saturdays to fulfil their duties.

“For the Greater Accra Region, District Court, Ashaiman, District Court, Teshie, District Court, Kasoa and District Court, La, will operate as the Saturday courts while District Court, Weija, District Court, Sowutuom, District Court ‘2’, Adenta and District Court, Gbese will operate as the weekday afternoon courts,” Chief Justice Torkonoo noted.

At the opening of the courts at the La District Courts, the head of the judiciary expressed appreciation to Bills MicroCredit for opting to support the operations of the 12 courts.

Meanwhile the CEO of Bills MicroCredit, Richard Quaye, on the other hand, noted that the courts will go a long way to boost their business. He explained that his outfit has so far filed 30,000 cases nationwide.

“One significant challenge we have faced is the sheer volume of defaulters resulting in our need to resort to the courts for recovery — over 30,000 — filed by our company seeking expedited hearings.

“The establishment of the new Small Claims Court will greatly alleviate the burden on our judicial system, ensuring that cases are resolved more quickly and efficiently,” Mr Quaye added.