Akufo-Addo has appointed the highest number of judges in the Fourth Republic - Minority Leader

Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, has raised concerns about the appointment of Supreme Court judges by Akufo-Addo.

According to him, Akufo-Addo has appointed the highest number of judges to the Supreme Court in the history of the Fourth Republic.

He explained that, so far, Akufo-Addo's appointment to the Supreme court is 78.6 per cent from 11 to

Read full article.14 Supreme court judges.

"If you take the Fourth Republic period from former President Rawlings, [former] President John Agyekum Kufour to Atta-Mills, we've seen significant numbers of appointments to the Supreme Court by the president in the exercise of his constitutional powers under Article 144. But note that president Mills contributed about 21.4 per cent to appointment to the Supreme Court, John Dramani Mahama 28.6 percent and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo 78.6 per cent from 11 to 14 Supreme court judges. Whether he is mindful of the public purse with these numbers is a matter that should be looked at," he said.

He further suggested that parliament perhaps puts a specified figure to the number of Supreme Court Justices appointed during a sitting government's tenure.

...the Ghanaian public is concerned about the number of justices at the Supreme Court and probably an invitation to parliament and to all of us to look at an opportunity whether it is not about time for us to have a ceiling so that presidents that succeed president Akufo-Addo tomorrow don't do as they please.

Haruna Iddrisu was speaking while he was giving his opening statement at the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Tuesday, October 18, 2022.

The four Judges nominated to the Supreme Court by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo are being vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament.

The nominees are Justice Barbara Frances Ackah-Yensu, Justice George Kingsley Koomson, and Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu Asiedu, all from the Appeals Court. The only High Court judge who made the list is Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu.

They were referred to the Appointments Committee for consideration after Speaker Bagbin announced their nominations in the House in July.

Their appointment followed pending and projected vacancies at the Supreme Court this year.

NYA/WA