Ghana Parliament passes Public Tribunals Bill, 2026 despite opposition

The legislation faced a walkout by the Minority in Parliament and strong opposition from the Trades Union Congress TUC. The Bill aims to regulate the establishment, jurisdiction, composition, and functioning of public tribunals in line with the 1992 Constitution. It also creates a Tribunal Oversight Committee to supervise tribunal administration and performance.

According to Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, Ghana's Attorney General, the tribunals are intended to strengthen the justice delivery system, reduce case backlogs, and provide faster adjudication for high-priority cases such as economic crimes, illegal mining, tax offenses, and corruption. The Bill proposes a two-tier system: Regional Tribunals with concurrent jurisdiction with the High Court over selected criminal matters, and District Tribunals sharing jurisdiction with Circuit Courts for specified criminal matters, excluding treason, capital offenses, and cases triable on indictment. Tribunal members, including legally qualified chairpersons and citizen panel members, will be appointed under defined procedures, and their decisions will be subject to appellate review.