Kwaku Ansa-Asare, a former Director of the Ghana School of Law, is calling for a re-look at the mode of appointment of the Chief Justice.
According to him, the Constitution provides for the senior most person at athe Supreme Court to take over the functions of the Office until the President has appointed a new person to take over.
The former Director of the Ghana School of Law is calling for a change in the constitution so that the position will not be filled by the President when it becomes vacant.
Articles 144 (6): Where the office of Chief Justice is vacant, or where the Chief Justice is for any reason unable to perform the functions of his office –
(a) until a person has been appointed to, and has assumed the functions of, that office; or
(b) until the person holding that office has resumed the functions of that office; as the case may be, those functions shall be performed by the most senior of the Justices of the Supreme Court.
Reacting to the provision on Onua TV’s morning show, Maakye, Thursday, October 31, 2024, he said “the constitution needs to be amended for the word “until” to be scrapped so that when there is a vacancy, the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court takes over to end all these brouhaha. If that is not taken away, our Presidents who have proven that they did not come to serve the interest of the state but rather their personal parochial interest, would harm us considering the words of the Chief Justice yesterday and what has been happening so far.
His comments come on the back of the pronouncement by the Chief Justice during the hearing of the Speaker’s application for the ruling on the declaration of the vacant seats to be overturned.
The Supreme Court on Friday, October 18, 2024, instructed Parliament to allow some four MPs to continue their duties until the case is resolved, effectively pausing the Speaker’s declaration on October 17.
The Supreme Court, in a verdict on an ex parte motion filed by the Member of Parliament for Effutu and leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members in Parliament annulled the Speaker’s declaration.
The legal team of the Speaker had argued that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction in the matter, based on the 1992 Constitution.
At the hearing, Counsel for the Speaker of Parliament, Thaddeus Sory, argued for the recusal of Justice Ernest Gaewu.
According to him, Justice Gaewu once contested as parliamentary candidate on the ticket of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Volta region.
During proceedings in court Wednesday, October 30, 2024, Mr. Sory said Justice Gaewu’s membership as an NPP and sitting as a judge on a matter seeking the interest of the party may compromise his judgement.
“He was known to be associated with New Patriotic Party (NPP) and in fact he was a parliamentary candidate in one of their constituencies in the Volta Region,” Thaddeus Sory argued.
But the court dismissed the application. “We have considered the application, and we have come to the conclusion that the grounds supporting the application have no merit,” the Chief Justice stated.
During her ruling, the Chief Justice said there have been instances of having judges on the bench who belonged to other political parties, including the National Democratic Congress and a judge who was a former General Secretary of the People’s National Convention (PNC). She added that once the person has been vetted and approved by Parliament, he was fight to occupy the role and sit on any matter.
The comment, is what the former Director of the Ghana School of Law says is unfortunate.
Supreme Court throws out Speaker’s application to set aside its ruling on vacant seats declaration