The Minority Caucus in Parliament has accused President Akufo-Addo of deliberately taking advantage of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which does not place any cap on the appointment of Supreme Court judges and ‘pad’ the Supreme Court.
In reaction to the nominations of three Appeal Court judges to the Supreme Court by President Akufo-Addo, the South Dayi Member of Parliament of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor expressed deep concerns about the President’s decision to appoint additional judges to the Supreme Court.
The South Dayi lawmaker asserted that President Akufo-Addo’s nominations of an additional three judges to the Supreme Court is not justifiable since there are no vacancies at the apex court.
“The evidence is that out of the 15 Supreme Court judges that we have, three have gone on retirement this year so it means that we have 12 sitting Supreme Court judges who can actively serve the court. The full panel of the court is nine so there is no vacancy at the court. He is taking advantage of the constitutional lacuna of not placing a cap on the number of judges that can serve at the Supreme Court. So he has decided to increase the number from 12 to 15″.
Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor Esq.
According to the Member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament, the three new judges nominated by President Akufo-Addo for Parliament approval are not necessary since the required number for the empanelling of the apex court is either five or seven.
Majority Defends President Akufo-Addo’s Supreme Court Nominations
However, the Majority Caucus in Parliament refuted the claims of the Minority Caucus in Parliament and defended President Akufo-Addo’s nominations of the three Appeal Court judges to the Supreme Court.
According to the Member of Parliament for Nsawan Adoagyiri and the Majority Chief Whip in Parliament, Frank Annoh-Dompreh President Akufo-Addo did not breach any law in the nominations of the three appeal court judges to the Supreme Court.
He thus challenged the South Dayi Member of Parliament, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor and the Minority in Parliament to take the appropriate measures against President Akufo-Addo’s nominations of the three Appeal Court judges to the Supreme Court if it considered the decision as inappropriate.
“He is a lawyer, he should tell us the legal basis for that statement. That is a sweeping statement, it is not tenable and not based on law … packing the court? What are you supposed to mean? “I think the President in all force is right in terms of the law’.
Frank Annoh-Dompreh
Moreover, the Nsawam Adoagyiri legislator lauded President Akufo-Addo for discharging his constitutional mandate by filing the vacancies created at the Supreme Court due to the retirement of three Supreme Court judges.
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Saviour Kudze has indicated that it is not wrong for President Akufo-Addo to replace retired Supreme Court Judges.
According to him, President Akufo-Addo acted within the tenets of the constitution when he nominated three Justices to fill vacant offices.
“I don’t think that there is any issue about this thing in the sense that the constitution gives us a minimum number of Justices that must be appointed, it does not give us a sealing but practically, what has been happening is that we have been hovering around 15,16″.
Saviour Kudze
Following the retirement of some Supreme Court judges recently, President Akufo-Addo nominated three Appeal Court judges for Parliament approval to fill the vacancies at the apex court.
The three Justices of the Appeal Court nominated by President Akufo-Addo to the Supreme Court include Henry Kwofi, Yaw Asare Darko and Adjei Frimpong.
If Parliament approves the nominations, President Akufo-Addo would be the first President in Ghanaian history to nominate the most Supreme Court judges—eighteen—by himself.
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