President Akufo-Addo has ignored Chief Justice Recommendation for the appointment of Five new Justices to the Supreme Court.
The Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkonoo in a letter dated May 30, 2024, addressed to President Akufo-Addo, recommended the appointment of five justices to the Supreme Court.
The judges recommended in the letter are: Justice Angelina Mensah Homiah; Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, Justice Cyra Pamela C.A. Koranteng, and Justice Afia Asare Botwe.
But in a letter to Parliament, President Akufo-Addo did not consider any of the nominees by the Chief Justice and nominated Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong, a legal academic and fellow of the Ghana Academy of Sciences, and Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko Essah, a justice of the Court of Appeal.
According to President Akufo-Addo, both nominees are to be vetted by Parliament as constitutionally mandated.
Meanwhile,Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin says there is a need to urgently legislate a cap on the size of the Supreme Court.
“And so we are being called forth through this letter as a house, to look at the issue of a full complement of the Supreme Court. Should we be 13, should we be 15, should we be 20, 40 or 100? It is for this house to decide,” he said.
“And I am urging you to look at this issue during the constitutional reforms or to pass legislation to give an upper limit as to how many can be at the Supreme Court of a country of 33 million people,” he further explained.
On Thursday, July 4, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) accused President Akufo-Addo and the Chief Justice of colluding to shield current government officials from accountability after their term ends.
The opposition party alleged that the Judicial Council had unanimously resisted moves to elevate five judges to the Supreme Court, only to be covertly overridden by the Chief Justice and the President.
Fifi Kwetey, the NDC’s General Secretary, expressed concern over the nomination of the five new justices, describing it as unjust and calling for the decision to be contested.
Addressing a media encounter in Accra on Sunday night [July 7 2024], former President Mahama said he will put it to Ghanaians to decide whether the number of justices should be capped at 15 number, or they should reduce or increase it.
Mr Mahama said “I can’t understand why the Chief Justice will be the one recommending which judges to appoint. The constitution is clear that it is the president who appoints judges with the advice of the judicial council and so the initiative to appoint judges must come from the president and be submitted to the judicial council, he brings it back with advice and the president then forwards to Parliament, that is the procedure.
“It is very rare that this time the recommendation comes from the Chief Justice to the president. Even capping the number of judges, the constitutional review committee recommended that we cap Supreme Court judges at 15, so the issue for capping the Supreme Court judges is not for the chief justice to say. We will resurrect the constitutional review process when I become president and when we do that we will put it to the Ghanaian people whether we should retain the 15, whether we should reduce it, or whether we should increase it. I don’t think that it should be the chief justice saying that we should increase and cap at 15.
Source:Mybrytfmonline/Mensah Atakora
