Ghana’s Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Gertrude Torkonoo has opened 12 special courts dedicated to small claims and debt recovery cases. The courts were created following an observation of the rise in small claims which are filed in the district court in Ghana. These increases have been attributed to the Bills Microcredit company, with eight of the new courts situated in Accra and four in the Ashanti Region.
At the opening of the courts, Justice Esaaba Torkonoo cited that “the data further revealed that over 70% of the total cases filed by Bills MicroCredit were for claims less than GHC 5,000.”
The situation according to her has led to the increase of the workload of the district court and undermining of the court shift system that was introduced 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.
According to her, the department of the judicial service sampled seven district courts in Accra Adenta District Courts 1 & 2, Teshie District Court, Sowutuom District Court, Ashaiman District Court, Weija District Court and Gbese District Court to determine the quantum of the claims to find a solution to the increasing caseload of the courts.
In the Adenta District Courts 1 & 2, the total active cases pending as of May 2024 stood at 773 cases. Out of this number, Bills MicroCredit alone had filed a total of 120 cases representing approximately 15% of the total active cases pending in the court.
Her ladyship also mentioned that there was some similarity in the other five courts, with the company’s share of active cases pending before these courts varying from 14%, 19%, 22%, and 39% to as high as 43% of the caseload in the sampled courts.
The courts in the discharge of their duties will sit every working day in the afternoons and on Saturdays.
“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 during the opening of the courts.
The head of the judiciary at the opening of the courts at the La District Courts expressed appreciation to Bills MicroCredit for opting to support the operations of the 12 courts.
The CEO of Bills MicroCredit, Richard Quaye, on the other hand, indicated that the courts will go a long way to boost their business. He again mentioned that his outfit has so far filed 30,000 cases across the country.
“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.” He said.
