A legal practitioner Lawyer Smith has described the comment made by former President John Mahama on the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court as unfortunate.
Speaking to Ohene Kinnah on Plan B FM’s late afternoon show EBAANOSEN, Lawyer Smith said there are procedures for selecting a Judge to the Supreme Court.
“Before a Judge is appointed to the Supreme Court, he/she must have fifteen years of law practice experience. The president does that in consultation with the Council of State and other stakeholders in appointing a Judge after which the appointment is approved or rejected by parliament. The constitution does not permit any president to appoint his party members to the Supreme Court. It is very sad that the lawyers in NDC and around Mr. John Mahama couldn’t stop and educate him on the derogatory comment he made.” He stated
Former President John Dramani Mahama over the weekend once again criticized the judicial arm of the government.
Mr. Mahama, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2024 elections, accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, of packing the judicial with loyalists of his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to avoid accountability if his party leaves power.
“He’s packed the court and we know that they’ve packed the court because they want to avoid accountability after they have left office. So, all manner of people who have been known to be partisan, to have been executives of their party who are in the legal profession have been leapfrogged onto the Superior courts and other places,” he said as he was addressing a closing session of the 3rd Lawyers Conference organized by NDC Lawyers Association at Akosombo in the Eastern region.
These comments made by Mahama have become a topic of discussion by Ghanaians both on social media and the traditional media.
But has Akufo-Addo appointed the most judges in the history of the 4th Republic of Ghana? Let’s take the Supreme Court of Ghana, for instance, One of the superior courts, Mahama says Akufo-Addo has filled with NPP loyalists.
The first president of the 4th Republic, Jerry John Rawlings made 11 appointments to the Supreme Court.
His successor, John Agyekum Kufuor, appointed 17 judges in 8 years to the court.
Then came the late former President, John Evans Atta Mills, who appointed 3 judges to the highest court of the land.
Former President Mahama also appointed 4 justices of the Supreme Court during his tenure.
The current President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has so far made 15 appointments to the Supreme Court of Ghana.
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