Packing the courts: Wood, Akufo, Bobbey, Afreh others turned down Kufuor’s appointments-Ansah-Asare reveals

A former Director of the Ghana School of Law, Mr. Kwaku Ansah-Asare, has praised the integrity of former Chief Justices Georgina Wood, Sophia Akufo, and Justices Stephen Alan Bobbey and Dickson Kwame Afreh for resisting former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s attempts to pack the courts due to a gap in the number of Supreme Court appointments.

He commended their uprightness in refusing President Kufuor’s proposal to appoint them over their seniors to the Supreme Court, finding such appointments morally questionable.

At the time, ”these judges perceived something improper about their appointments in relation to court-packing under Kufuor’s administration’.

I was privy to discussions about such appointments and cited the case of Tsatsu Tsikata versus the Republic as an example.

Stating his role in all the discussions for the packing of the courts”.

He noted that these esteemed court figures, with the support of Nana Akufo-Addo, saw their appointments as ethically wrong.

Expressing his surprise at similar actions occurring under Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidency, Mr. Ansah-Asare was full of praise for the aforementioned personalities while discussing Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo’s letter advocating for the appointment of five more judges to the Supreme Court, increasing its total to twenty.

He contrasted this with countries like the United States, Canada, and Britain, which have fewer judges at the apex court.

Speaking on Class 91.3 FM’s morning show with host Kwame Dwomoh Agyemang on Friday, July 5, 2024, he explained that Article 121(1) of the Constitution stipulates that the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice, should have no fewer than nine judges, with the minimum being ten.

The Constitution does not specify a maximum number, a lacuna that the President has exploited to pack the courts with up to fifteen judges.

Mr. Ansah-Asare expressed concern that many of these judges were promoted over their seniors at the Bar and alleged that some have either done business for the President or are family friends.

He accused the President of disregarding the rule of law, attributing this to a lack of sufficient public outrage, which allows constitutional operators to take citizens for granted.