Vetting of Supreme Court nominees delayed as Minority MPs attempt to halt process
The vetting of two nominees for the Supreme Court, put forward by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has been delayed following efforts by the Minority in Parliament to halt the process.
Justice Sophia Bernasko Essah and Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong were scheduled to face the Appointments Committee of Parliament on August 13 to assess their eligibility for the Supreme Court.
However, the session descended into chaos when the Minority raised concerns about the constitutionality of the appointments.
Mahama Ayariga, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, argued that the appointments were unconstitutional.
He questioned the President’s authority to appoint more than nine justices to the Supreme Court, in addition to the Chief Justice.
“As we speak, we have 15 justices on the Supreme Court. We are told that one is retiring. We have 15 Justices on the Supreme Court. It means that we have nine plus the chief justice making 10 and an additional five making it 15. This letter states that two of the 15 are about to retire.
“The president is seeking to make early arrangements to make sure that there’s no vacuum when the two do retire…The legal issue that I’m raising before this committee, which should be captured in our report for discussion, is this, whereas the constitution in article 144 says the president shall appoint the justices, there’s nowhere in this constitution that the president is given the power to increase the number beyond the nine plus one.”
“… I challenge anybody in this room to show me any provision in this constitution that says that even though article 128 (1) says nine plus Chief Justice at a minimum, and you don’t have an upper [ceiling]. The person to decide that upper [ceiling] is the president. Who said the person to decide the upper [ceiling] is the president? Who? To show who’s provision?”
However, the Majority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, noted that the role of the Appointments Committee was solely to consider and vet the nominations made by the President.
“We are only to vet and report to the preliminary for a decision to be taken. We are not determining whether we are going to take a matter under a certificate of urgency which will be determined by a committee. No, this is vetting. Madam Chair, I am ready for her to start,” he said.