A notice from the office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has announced that effective October 2023, the Cape Coast Court of Appeal will resume sitting, but monthly to determine cases brought before it.
According to the notice by Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, the panels of the sittings at the Central regional capital “will be drawn from the current Court of Appeal Bench, Accra”.
The decision was arrived at following a conference held on July 31, 2023, in respect of the suspension of the Court of Appeal sittings in Cape Coast and three other regional capitals including Tamale, Koforidua and Ho.
For Tamale, sittings will resume in October 2023, but quarterly.
“Motions and Applications emanating from the Northern, North East, Savanna, Upper East and Upper West regions will continue to be heard at Kumasi. Substantive appeals will be heard at Tamale on a quarterly basis,” said the Chief Justice.
“The Panel for the sittings at Tamale will be drawn from the Court of Appeal Bench, Kumasi,” she added.
The Koforidua and Ho Courts of Appeal will however be expected to compile data of all appeals filed at their respective courts over the last six months to enable a decision to be taken on the Court of Appeal sittings at Koforidua and Ho.
Suspension of the Court of Appeal sittings in the affected regions
In February, the Judicial Service under the Lordship of Chief Justice Anin Yeboah announced the indefinite suspension of sittings of the Court of Appeal in Cape Coast, Tamale, Koforidua and Ho.
Consequently, all appeals from Upper West, Upper East, North East, Northern, Savannah, Bono Region, Bono East, Ahafo and Western North regions and the Ashanti regions were transferred to Kumasi.
Appeals from Western, Central, Eastern, Oti, Volta and Greater Accra Regions were sent to be determined in Accra.
