The Sanitation and Motor court set under the District Assembly system in the country, have jurisdiction to try cases under sections 29 and 296 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) as well as cases under the Road Traffic Act, 2004 (Act 683).

Under the Criminal Offences Act, the jurisdiction of the court includes cases such as throwing rubbish in the street; exposing human excreta; causing noise in the city; obstruction of public way; not keeping the road way clean from weeds and refuse, slaughtering cattle elsewhere other than at approved places; selling unwholesome food; engaging in obnoxious trade and allowing cattle and other animals to go astray.

Also in reference to the Road Traffic Act, the jurisdiction of the Courts covers dangerous driving (except in the event of death occurring as a result of the dangerous driving, when it will refer the matter to the Circuit Court which can impose sentence above three years.

However, the Presiding Member for the La Dade Kotopon Municipal Assembly, Augustine Nii Amoah Nai has observed in an interaction with Ghanadistricts.com that if all the structures in the Assembly were working well there wouldn’t be any need for the establishment of the court.

He said the Assembly wields so much power in its jurisdiction, hence if the Assembly is legislating well and giving good directives as well as the proper implementation of its directives there will be a complete order in the system, although he believed in every human setting there will be some pockets of extreme issues. 

This observation by the PM follows the concerns raised by some officials at the Sanitation and Motor court in the La Dade Kotopon municipality.

These officials who wanted their identity withheld bemoaned the improper monitoring and supervision with regards to the operations of the field officers who have been tasked to abate nuisance regarding sanitation.

They contended some of the officers rather resort to satisfy their interest by negotiating and taking monies from offenders instead of bringing cases for prosecution.

According to them, these challenges are slowing the fight against poor sanitation in our communities, noting that the nuisance in the communities on sanitation is also overwhelming which needed to be checked.  

Jonathan Adjei/Ghanadistricts.com