Member of Parliament representing the South Dayi constituency in the Volta, Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor has accused President Akufo-Addo of taking advantage of the constitution to pad our courts, especially the Supreme Court.
The lawmaker made the remarks in reaction to the latest appointment of three new justices to the Supreme Court bench.
President Akufo-Addo had nominated three Court of Appeal Justices to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court bench.
They are Justice Henry Anthony Cofie, Justice Yaw Asare Darko, and Justice Richard Agyei Frimpong.
The appointment, according to the president, follows the mandatory retirement of three Justices of the Apex Court earlier this year.
The first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, who chaired proceedings in the house over the week, referred the appointment of the three justices to the Appointments Committee for consideration and report.
Reacting to this, Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor said he disagrees with the reason for the new nomination of the three judges to the apex court.
According to him, he finds it difficult to believe that vacancies at the apex court have informed the President’s decision to appoint three new judges.
He declared that the president is taking advantage of the constitution to pad the court.
He explained that we have twelve sitting apex court judges who can actively serve the court; the full panel is nine.
‘There is no vacancy at the court to be filled. The president is simply padding the court with more numbers, he said.
However, Majority Chief Whip Frank Annor Dompreh disagreed.
He asked his colleague, MP, to provide the legal basis for his argument.
He referred to the comments as sweeping, which had no basis in law.
He advised the MP to go to the appropriate quarters if he thinks the president has breached the law.
Source: GNA
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
Those insulting Dafeamekpor should tell Ghanaians how many SC judges Ghana had prior to K4 taking over in 2001, and who increased the numbers? You guys should also explain what prevents us from reverting to the fewer number of judges we used to have. Do you people know how much it costs the country to maintain a sitting SC judge and a retired one? Why do we burden the tax payer with these unnecessary increase in the number of SC judges? The UK, with a population of over 67 million, has only 12 SC judges. Even in the UK, the appointment is not done the Prime Minister or the King, but rather by an Independednt Selection Commission. The USA with a population of over 335 million has only 9 SC judges Germany, with a population of over 84 million has 16 SC Judges Canada with a population of over 38 million has only 9 SC judges Australia, with a population of over 26 million has only 7 SC judges Japan has a population of over 125 million with SC judges of 15 South Korea has a population of over 52 million with SC judges of 14. Ghana has a population of around 33 million, and how many supreme court justices do we have? Ghana always approaches the above-mentioned countries for grants and financial supports, and we want to outdo them in.the appointment of the number of SC judges. Are we serious as s country?
Sometimes it's embarrassing listening to NDC followers, even, their so-called intellectuals...is this guy really a lawyer, does he believe in expedient/fast delivery of justice, does he believe in job creation, coz these nominations automatically gives opportunity for 3 lawyers to be hired at high courts...it's like NDC turns every national issue into propaganda and mischief...all our problems are due to NDC!
eh and oh, three are retiring or retired and you bring in the same number three that to our ndc mp is padding hmmmmmmmm what kind of reasoning is that. the same number you have a problem. nana add more to qualify for the padding they are talking about.
The behaviour of some NDC MPs will prolong their stay in opposition simple because they subject every good intentions to become propaganda in this country.Thing our ear at guy is lawyer right so he proceed to any court of competent jurisdictions to table his case and stop disturbing our ears . NDC will still loose again because They do not believe in Ghana
***barred word*** MP. And you are a lawyer too. So he should not replace those who have retired! NDC should stop propaganda!