A workshop for judges and magistrates on the new Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) held on Friday, 16th June 2023, has revealed that the percentage of inmates in remand prisons in Ghana has reduced from 33% in 2017 to 9.8% in 2023.

The workshop was organised by the Judicial Training Institute, Perfector for Sentiments (POS) Foundation, and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), a non-governmental organisation.

The theme was: “the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): effective implementation of the Act, and the role of judges and magistrates in handling people who use drugs”.

The workshop aimed to equip the judges and magistrates with the necessary knowledge of the changes brought by the Act, and the jurisdiction given to the trial Court by Act 1019.

Mr. Johnathan Osei Owusu, the Executive Director of the Perfector for Sentiments (POS) Foundation, implementers of the "Justice for All Programme" (JFAP), gave the information on the remand prison population.

He commended the judiciary, police, and prisons services, as well as all stakeholders, for their support of the programme and described it as a remarkable achievement that was partly due to the implementation of the JFAP.

Mr Owusu explained that the JFAP was a state-led intervention, launched in 2007 to decongest prisons, by setting up Mobile In-prison Special Courts, to adjudicate remand and pre-trial cases in prisons nationwide.

This initiative involved the collective efforts of the Judicial Service of Ghana, Office of the Attorney-General, Ghana Prisons and Police Service, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and the POS Foundation, a civil society organisation that served as facilitators.

Mr Owusu said the judicial system in Ghana was doing better than that of other neighbouring countries like Nigeria whose remand prison population was 69 per cent, Liberia 48 per cent and Kenya 42 per cent.

Justice Patrick Bayeh, a Supervising High Court Judge in Sunyani said the workshop was important and timely, as judges and magistrates were only familiar with the old narcotic control law.

He praised the new Act 1019, saying it had introduced fairness into the judicial system in prosecuting cases related to narcotics and hoped participants would be well informed about the new law.

Justice Tanko Amadu, the Director of the Judicial Training Institute and a Justice of the Supreme Court, and Mr Yaw Akrasi-Sarpong, a former boss of the then Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) were present.

The participants were taken through topics such as Act 1019, the role of judges in its application in line with best practices and drug use and dependence as public health issues.

Other topics included ‘Ghana’s commitment to international and regional drug reform and how to effectively meet these commitments’, as well as ‘thinking outside the box’, ‘cannabis governance, the international and national perspectives.

The Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020, Act 1019 was passed on 20th March 2020, and received Presidential assent on 11th May 2020.

It came after a long period of seeking more effective responses by law enforcement authorities.