Minority Walks Out of Supreme Court Nominees’ Vetting Over Timetable

The Minority in Parliament has boycotted the vetting of three Supreme Court nominees, protesting what it describes as an unnecessarily rushed timetable for the process.

Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin said the objection was not directed at the nominees themselves, but at the manner and speed with which their nominations were being handled.

According to the Minority, there is currently no vacancy on the Supreme Court bench that requires such urgency. It argued that the nominees are being considered to increase the existing number of Justices rather than to fill vacant positions.

Speaking before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Thursday, August 27, Mr Afenyo-Markin called on the Majority to explain why the nominees could not be subjected to the usual level of parliamentary scrutiny.

“These nominations came to the House on Monday. Let us reason together and let us be seen as being consistent with our political views,” he said.

He urged the committee to suspend the vetting and follow the 14-day period for public scrutiny, arguing that there was no immediate harm that would be caused to the state, the Judiciary or litigants by allowing the process to take its normal course.

However, Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Bernard Ahiafor, rejected the Minority’s concerns, describing them as “flimsy”, “hollow” and “baseless”.

Mr Ahiafor maintained that the committee was bound by decisions taken by the full House and could not independently alter the timetable approved by Parliament.

“If you are aggrieved by the decision of the House, the method available for you to reverse that decision is contained in our own Standing Orders,” he said.

Following the chairman’s decision to proceed with the vetting, the Minority, led by Mr Afenyo-Markin, walked out of the committee.

The three nominees are Justice Sophia Bernasko-Essah, a Court of Appeal Justice; Justice Edward Amoako Asante, a Court of Appeal Justice and former President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice; and private legal practitioner Anthony Forson Jr., a former President of the Ghana Bar Association.