The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticised Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo for her decision to write a letter to President Akufo-Addo, asking him to nominate five judges to the Supreme Court.
According to the party, the letter written by the Chief Justice is illegal and unconstitutional.
The NDC said that nowhere in the Constitution is the Chief Justice named as the one to recommend persons to the President for appointment to the Supreme Court.
“We wish to state without any equivocation that the Chief Justice’s letter is illegal and of no effect.
“Her actions have completely turned due process on its head and compromised her independence as the head of the judiciary,” the party’s General Secretary, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey said in a statement during a press conference on Thursday, July 4.
The party's comment comes after Justice Gertrude Torkornoo asked President Akufo-Addo to nominate five judges to the Supreme Court.
Among them is Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, the current judge presiding over the Ato Forson ambulance procurement trial.
The four other judges are Justice Cyra Pamela Koranteng, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, Justice Eric Kyei Baffuour and Justice Angelina Mensah Homiah.
But the NDC indicated that Article 144(2) of the Constitution enjoins the President to make such appointments to the Supreme Court on the advice of the Judicial Council, in consultation with the Council of State and subject to parliamentary approval.
They asserted that contrary to this constitutional imperative, the Chief Justice singularly constituted herself into the Judicial Council and unilaterally acted in its name and on its behalf.
“We are completely shocked and scandalised by the extent to which the Hon. Chief Justice was prepared to consciously side-step due process and even breach the constitution just to please the President and aid him execute his unholy agenda to pack the Supreme Court.”
“By electing to write to President Akufo-Addo, requesting for these appointments and seeking a post-facto ratification from the Judicial Council, the Chief Justice sought to turn the Council into a mere rubberstamp,” part of the statement read.
Additionally, the NDC expressed concern to what they described as a worrying pattern which irresistibly suggests that the President is appointing only loyalists of his party to the Supreme Court to “control the judiciary and escape post-regime accountability.”
“It is also very clear that the President is packing the courts ahead of the impending presidential and parliamentary elections with judges who are sympathetic to his party.
“Such deliberate politicization and bastardization of independent institutions of state, including the judiciary, can negatively impact the peace and stability of our democracy,” the NDC said.
Credit: Prince Adu-Owusu