Ghana’s Tribunals Bill: A Return to PNDC Justice in 2026
By Dr. Ato Kwamena Danso · 19 July 2026 · Politics
Ghana, in the year 2026, has decided to engage in a spirited, time travel argument over the Tribunals Bill, 2026, a legislative relic so nostalgically crafted it could qualify for heritage status. Yes, indeed, we are attempting to resurrect the legal fashion trends of 1982 !
Our policymakers insist these tribunals will decongest the courts, allowing us to swiftly discipline tax evaders, customs offenders, and galamsey practitioners. A noble mission, except judicial data shows these offenses barely make a dent in the general court docket.
And then there is the unmistakable aroma wafting from the bill, pure, unfiltered PNDC vintage. As the ancient wisdom reminds us, old men always feel uneasy when dry bones are mentioned, and for good reason. The tribunal evokes dark and bad memories in the history of Ghana. You will recall how the Provisional National Defence Council built a parallel justice system precisely because the military government wanted its own way. They had no patience for the slow, deliberate grind of the traditional courts. The tribunals were engineered as a fast track mechanism, a place where the executive could act decisively without waiting for justice to take its usual, measured stroll. Popular participation was weaponized with trade union enthusiasm, and the rules of evidence were treated more like polite suggestions. And truly, you would think that a country with this revolutionary history, a country that once learned the hard way what parallel courts can become, would not even entertain the idea of tribunals again. Yet here we are. Section 4 of this new bill attempts to carve out an independent tribunal system that looks suspiciously like a modern reboot of that old parallel structure, quietly nibbling away at the Chief Justice’s supervisory authority.
Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh’s committee spelled it out plainly: the tribunals have outlived their usefulness and should be abolished. A decade earlier, the 2012 Constitution Review Commission under President Atta Mills reached the exact same conclusion, warning that the tribunal system undermines the unified architecture of the 1992 Constitution.
We already sank over $8 million into that 2012 Constitution Review exercise alone, and after all these years, the final constitutional amendment bill has still not been realized. Heaven only knows how much taxpayer money was poured into Prof. H. Kwasi Prempeh and his colleagues to give us world class legal advice, only for state actors to treat their final reports like decorative paperweights.
Two heavyweight, state funded expert committees tell us to bury the tribunal system, and the state responds by exhuming it, polishing it, and offering it a promotion. If there is a genuine concern over handling specific offenses, you simply expand or create a dedicated division within the existing court structure specifically for criminal cases. It is as simple as that. Instead of building parallel side tracks, we should be fortifying the courts we already have, improving institutional resources, funding infrastructure, and aggressively digitalizing the judicial process. In 2026, our lawmakers ought to be talking about digitized filings, automated case tracking, virtual hearings, AI assisted scheduling, and the entire buffet of modern tools to accelerate standard court processes. Instead of embracing the future, they appear determined to reenact a legal drama from the early eighties, complete with all the institutional choreography that made that era memorable.
The fear today, Osagyefo, is executive capture, the painfully predictable outcome of building a court system outside the fortified walls of the judiciary. Once you create a legal side door, politicians will inevitably find the keys. We are already watching the state curtail free speech, clamping down on public commentary, arresting citizens, and handing down one year jail sentences for online utterances. In an environment where political discourse is being choked, handing the state a shiny new set of expedited tribunals is outright dangerous.
After all, Osagyefo, if our leaders are truly determined to drive this nation backward into 1982, they could at least have the decency not to charge us $8 million for the reverse gear. Building a parallel legal shortcut to jail citizens faster is not statecraft, it is just tyranny wearing a modern suit and holding an expedited clock. What we need is forward looking justice and resourced courts, not a polished shovel to exhume old bones.
So long,
Ato_KD