Supreme Court nominee, Justice Philip Bright Mensah, has highlighted the need to improve the conditions of service for judges at the lower courts to attract more qualified lawyers into the judiciary.
According to him, many lawyers prefer to join the superior courts due to better incentives and working conditions, leaving the lower courts, which handle the bulk of judicial work, less resourced in terms of legal expertise.
Speaking during the vetting of Supreme Court nominees on Tuesday, June 17, Justice Mensah underscored the critical role of lower court judges in ensuring quality justice delivery at the foundational level of the judicial system.
“The conditions of service, particularly at the lower court, must be attractive to lawyers to start from the lowest bench. Quite often, lawyers who would want to join the bench would want to join it from the superior court, but when we talk about the work of the court, it is those down there who normally do the bulk of the work.
“When we are talking about quality justice, it starts from down there. Therefore, to attract lawyers to start from the lower end of the ladder, it means that the conditions of service must be very attractive. I believe that when the conditions of service are attractive, many lawyers will join the bench,” he said.
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