Justice Sule Gbadegbe, a Supreme Court Judge, on Wednesday said the codification of customary laws
in Ghana would forge stronger relativities between it and statute laws even if the two did not merge.
He said customary laws represented a huge store of knowledge on justice delivery which was relevant to the orthodox method of adjudication in the country.
Justice Gbadegbe, who is member of the Ghana Law Reform Commission (GLC), was speaking at a two-day workshop in Ho to validate research findings on customary laws regarding land and the family in the Asogli and Krachi traditional areas.
It was under the auspices of the Ascertainment and Codification of Customary Law Project (ACLP) with support from the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the Land
Administration Project (LAP).
Justice Gbadegbe, who is also a member of the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) of the Project, observed that though provisions had been made in all the constitutions of state since
1960 (Republican Constitution), no serious attempt had been made to collate customary laws for progressive development in relation to justice delivery.
Dr Henry S. Daanaa, an Anthropologist and Director of Research at the Ministry of Culture, regretted the lack of interest among governments and quasi-governmental institutions to tackle these areas over the years
Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of Asogli who presided on the first day, told the participants, mainly chiefs, other traditional authorities, local government workers, gender activists, representatives of the physically challenged, that the peace in relation to land and family issues would boost national stability.
He suggested that codification and documentation should go along with modernization to bring some of those customary laws in tune with current trends.
Mr Thomas Tagoe, ACLP National Research Coordinator, said the job was in fulfilment of a constitutional provision and that the Ho and Krachi traditional areas were among 20 other
traditional areas across the country selected for the pilot programme.
He said the project consisted of background, developing methodologies for gathering information, research to find the laws, verification, validation, codification and harmonization.
Mrs Sheila Minkah-Premo, a Legal Consultant and Executive-Secretary of ACLP, said the findings needed to be verified through consultations, as was done in Ho, and careful
examination, to ascertain.
She said more work needed to be done in the Krachi Traditional Area regarding land management because of its diverse communities.