The Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) Saviour Kudzoe has said that a broad-based consultation is needed on the appointment of justices of the Supreme Court.
He says that the appointing authorities will have to go a step ahead of the conventional ways of appointing the justices to engage Parliament and the Council of State on such appointments.
Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, July 13, he says the apex court is now overwhelmed with cases because a lot more people have become aware of their rights under the laws and hence will always resort to the court to address their grievances.
“A lot more people have become aware of their rights so a lot of cases go to court, not just the Supreme Court. People are inclined to go to the Supreme Court when they are dissatisfied so we were not surprised that we had this number of cases pending there. if that is the position then there will be the need to increase the number. There should be broad-based engagement by involving parliament and the council of state,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, July 13 regarding the request by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo for five more justices of the Supreme Court to be appointed to make it twenty.
On this same, the Attorney-General Godfred Dame said that the substantial increase in the backlog of 414 and 595 cases in the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 legal years, during which there were the fewest number of Justices of the Supreme Court for the five-year period under review, provided empirical justification for the need to expand the number of Justices at the Supreme Court to curb the rising backlog of cases.
Godfred Dame says that appointing more justices of the apex court is not only constitutional but would ensure speedy and effective justice, minimise delays and unnecessary expense and conduce to the general efficient administration of the Supreme Court.
“Given the breadth of the multiplicity of jurisdictions of the Supreme Court, the request for the increase in the number of justices serving on the Supreme Court from the conventional fifteen (in addition to the Chief Justice) to twenty, is not only constitutional but would ensure speedy and effective justice, minimise delays and unnecessary expense and conduce to the general efficient administration of the Supreme Court,” he said in a statement.
He added “Understandably, the permutations in the constitution of the panels, almost simultaneously, could be daunting for effective and efficient work in the face of the limited number of Justices at the Supreme Court, as the Court is incessantly inundated with cases.”
“The enhancement of the membership of the Supreme Court to twenty, as requested in the brief by Her Ladyship the Chief Justice, is appropriate,” he further stated..
Read his full statement here
The recommendations by the Chief Justice raised concerns among some lawyers and analysts including a Private legal Practitioner Martin Kpebu.
Mr Kpebu said that the concerns are not about the competence of the names that have come up.
He says the concerns are about the timing and the procedure for the appointments. For the president to appoint Supreme Court justices there has to be a recommendation from the Judicial Council to that effect, Kpebu said.
Without a recommendation from the Judicial Council, the president cannot proceed with the process of appointing new justices of the apex court, he added.
Kpebu said on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, July 6 that “There must be a recommendation from the Judicial Council…If the president has not received advice from the judicial council he cannot start.”
He added “But that the nominees are not bad, it is the timing that is bad. These are fine justices but it is about procedure and timing, this debate is not about competence at all.”
The post Appointment of SC justices: Broad-based engagements needed – Saviour Kudzoe first appeared on 3News.
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