Minority demands delay in vetting of three Supreme Court nominees
The Minority in Parliament says the vetting of three Supreme Court nominees should be deferred because, in its view, there is no immediate vacancy requiring an urgent appointment.
The Minority in Parliament has called for the vetting of three Supreme Court nominees to be deferred, arguing that there is no immediate vacancy on the bench to justify rushing the process.
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin said the Supreme Court was currently operating with its full complement of justices and continued to hear cases and deliver judgments.
Speaking ahead of the scheduled vetting on Thursday, August 27, he questioned why Parliament needed to complete the process urgently when the three nominees were being proposed as additional justices rather than to fill an existing vacancy.
“If there is no vacancy to fill, there is certainly no emergency compelling anyone to fill it inside three days. There is no fire here,” he said.
The nominees are Justice Sophia Bernasko-Essah, a Court of Appeal judge; Justice Edward Amoako Asante, also a Court of Appeal judge and former President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice; and Anthony Forson Jr, a private legal practitioner and former President of the Ghana Bar Association.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said Parliament had enough time to conduct a thorough assessment of the nominees.
He proposed that the relevant parliamentary committee could undertake the vetting in September and submit its report when Parliament resumes in October.
The Minority Leader also rejected the suggestion that the ongoing judicial vacation had created an emergency requiring the appointments to be accelerated.
He argued that the Supreme Court continued to sit and determine cases requiring urgent attention despite the judicial vacation.
The dispute centres on the timing of the parliamentary vetting, rather than an objection to the three individuals themselves.
Its stated concern is that Parliament should not be pressured into completing the process within what it considers an unnecessarily short timeframe.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said the Minority would, however, support the prompt vetting of two ministerial nominees: Bawku Central MP Mahama Ayariga, nominated as Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, and Korle Klottey MP Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, nominated as Minister for Environment, Science and Technology.
It says the three Supreme Court nominations should receive more time for scrutiny because, according to its position, there is no immediate vacancy requiring their appointment.