Chief Justice justifies request for appointment of more Judges to Supreme Court
Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo has provided justification for the need to appoint more judges to the Supreme Court.
According to her, the Apex Court would at least require 20 judges meaning five more would be needed to add to the current 15 to expedite actions on increasing number of cases at the Supreme Court.
In a letter dated February 7, 2024 to the President, the Chief Justice offered basis for more judges at the Apex Court and the subsequent nominations of five of them for consideration.
In the 16-paged letter, the Chief Justice said, to have atleast 20 Justices at all material times at the Supreme Court will ensure effective and speedier hearings, quality production of decisions and reduce pressure on the Justices of the apex court.
The letter provided some statistical analysis of the workload of the Supreme Court currently while making comparisons of cases at the Supreme Court from 2019 to present.
“This paper states justifications for increasing the number of Supreme Court Judges from fifteen (15) to a minimum of twenty (20), including the Chief Justice.
“It is noted that there have been extensive calls for the reduction of the jurisdictions of the SCOG, in order to reduce the work load of the court, and refine its work in overseeing Ghana’s constitutional order.
“This position paper does not intend to veer into that discussion on reduction of the jurisdictions of the SCOG, because such reduction lies within the long term process of amending the national Constitution.
“This paper articulates that the policy philosophy behind the decision to reduce jurisdictions or appoint more Judges ought to be simply motivated by the obligation to match the supply of judicial services with demand for same as measured by the flow of new cases, the number of pending cases, and disposal of cases in backlog.
“It is this fundamental and background reason for the appointinent of Judges of the SCOG that the paper urges ought to be activated to increase the numbers of Judges on the SCOG, in view of the realities of the Court’s workload and output, and the need for the Court to appropriately serve the justice needs of the nation,” the CJ’s letter to President stated.
*Stand alone panels*
To further buttress her point, Justice Torkornoo said the number to 20 judges will help the Supreme Court have stand alone panels that will deal with matters as required.
“Currently, the SCOG (Supreme Court of Ghana) sits three days a week in alternating weeks in order to keep up with its volume of week.
“Two days are used for panel sitting, and one day for the sitting of a single Judge,” the CJ explained.
“The SCOG therefore sits twelve times a month. On any given day of sitting, the court deals with a minimum of 15 cases and so works on not fewer than forty five matters in a week, or approximately one hundred and eighty matters in a month.
“These numbers may increase when judgments and rulings are included.
“With the current limited, number or 15 Justices including the Chief Justice, and with recusals necessitated by the oft-occurring situation where Judges or the Supreme Court either sat on d matter on appeal in the Court of Appeal or presided over the trial of a case on appeal, it is most impossible to create two siand-alone panels in any given week.
“Invariably, panels have to be reconstituted to enable Judges to leave a panel and allow new Judges to replace them,” the CJ stated.
*Requests*
The CJ said, “It is for the above reason that the Chief Justice humbly requests His Excellency the President, to consider the appointment of an additional five (5) Judges to the Supreme Court to ensure the speedy resolution of cases, and speedy delivery of final decisions for the nation.
“This should bring the current number of the scOG to 20 Judges, including the Chief
Justice.
“This number will enable the setting of stand-alone panels of 5 and f o r y judges to work on any set of cases on a given day, depending
on the jurisdiction of the court being exercised in any given week, thereby reducing the specter of constantly reconstituted panels during a day’s sitting.”
*Nominees*
The nominees are Justice Afia Serwah Asare Botwe, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, Justice Asante from the Ecowas Court, Justice Angelina Mensah Homiah and Justice Pamela Addo Koranteng.
The request has since received mixed reactions from the Court of Public opinion with the National Democratic Congress, NDC and some government experts kicking against the move.
