By: Ama Gyamfuah
Mahama Ayariga, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, has questioned the president’s authority to appoint more than nine justices to the Supreme Court, excluding the Chief Justice.
He raised this issue during the vetting of new Supreme Court justices appointed by the president to replace two justices retiring, held in Accra on Tuesday.
In his letter requesting the vetting of the nominees, the president stated that the appointments were intended to fill the vacancies created by the retirement of two justices, which would bring the total number of Supreme Court justices to 15.
However, Ayariga contends that the constitution stipulates a minimum of nine Supreme Court justices, excluding the Chief Justice.
He argues that while the constitution does not set a maximum limit on the number of Supreme Court justices, past and present presidents have sought to assume this power for themselves.
Ayariga asserts that such actions violate the constitution.
He believes that a close examination of Articles 296 and 298 of the 1992 Constitution indicate that Parliament should regulate any increase in the number of Supreme Court justices through legislation, or the president must do so by presenting a constitutional instrument to Parliament.
Ayariga therefore urged the appointments committee to resolve this issue before proceeding with the nominees.
“As we speak, we have 15 justices on the Supreme Court. We are told that one is retiring. We have 15 justices on the Supreme Court. It means that we have nine plus the chief justice making 10 and an additional five making it 15. This letter states that two of the 15 are about to retire.
“The president is seeking to make early arrangements to make sure that there’s no vacuum when the two do retire…The legal issue that I’m raising before this committee, which should be captured in our report for discussion, is this. Whereas the constitution in article 144 says the president shall appoint the justices, there’s nowhere in this constitution that the president is given the power to increase the number beyond the nine plus one.”
“…I challenge anybody in this room to show me any provision in this constitution that says that even though article 128 (1) says nine plus chief justice at a minimum, and you don’t have an upper [ceiling]. The person to decide that upper [ceiling] is the president. Who said the person to decide the upper [ceiling] is the president? Who? To show who’s provision?”
