Ghana’s Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo, has issued a new directive outlining the procedures for serving court processes to key parliamentary officials, directed to registrars and court bailiffs.

The directive specifies procedures for serving the Speaker of Parliament, the Clerk of Parliament, and Members of Parliament (MPs).

According to the new directives, court processes intended for the Speaker of Parliament are now to be served to the Legal Department of the Parliamentary Service, strictly on Mondays during working hours.

Additionally, court processes for the Clerk of Parliament should be served between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Mondays or on any weekday from Tuesday to Friday, with this procedure in place even during parliamentary recesses. The Clerk is also tasked with notifying the Judiciary of Parliament’s recess schedule, among others.

These new directives follow concerns raised by Speaker Alban Bagbin who alerted the Chief Justice about potential breaches of Articles 117 and 118 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

The Speaker informed the Chief Justice that court processes had been served to MPs, the Speaker, and the Clerk while they were engaged in official parliamentary duties, risking disruptions to their work.