Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has suggested that the current Chief Justice, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, should be allowed to fill the vacancy on the Council of State after his retirement.
Speaking on the delay in filling the position created by the resignation of former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, Mr. Kpebu said Justice Baffoe-Bonnie will retire in December 2026 and could then take over the vacant slot reserved for a former Chief Justice.
“Let Baffoe-Bonnie retire and be appointed to the Council of State,” Kpebu said on The KeyPoints on September 12, while contributing to discussions on why President John Dramani Mahama has not yet appointed a replacement for Justice Akuffo, who resigned in September 2025.
According to him, that would be the most constitutionally appropriate solution to the issue.
Mr Kpebu contended that of all the qualified former Chief Justices, Mr Baffoe-Bonnie is the preferred candidate.
“That is the sentiment out there,” he noted.
Background
Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie was appointed Chief Justice in 2025 after the removal of Justice Torkornoo. He is due to retire in December 2026 upon attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70.
He has recently been in the news over remarks he made during working visits to SSNIT and the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) on September 2, 2026, where he questioned what had been done in the past eight years, comments critics described as political.
Martin Kpebu’s proposal means the President would have to wait for Justice Baffoe-Bonnie’s retirement in three months and appoint him to fill the reserved seat, ending the constitutional debate.
The Sophia Akuffo Vacancy and Supreme Court Suit
Justice Sophia Akuffo, Chief Justice from 2017 to 2020, was sworn in as a member of the 9th Council of State on February 18, 2025, under Article 89(2)(a)(i) of the 1992 Constitution, which provides for a former Chief Justice to serve on the Council.
She resigned in September 2025, but her resignation was only confirmed by the government on June 15, 2026, by Minister of State for Government Communications Felix Kwakye Ofosu, who said she did not state a reason. He said President Mahama had delayed accepting the resignation at the request of the Council of State to try to engage her, but the Council later advised that it be accepted.
Her exit followed controversy surrounding her stance on the removal process of former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo. Justice Akuffo was the only member of the 31-member Council of State who abstained from voting in April 2025 on whether a prima facie case had been established against Justice Torkornoo. She later testified in defence of Justice Torkornoo before the Article 146 committee.
The prolonged vacancy has triggered legal action. On September 7, 2026, a former Jubilee House staffer, Samuel Bryan Buabeng, sued President Mahama at the Supreme Court, arguing that failure to appoint a replacement violates Articles 89(1) and 89(2)(a)(i) of the Constitution.
He is asking the court to order the President to consult Parliament within 14 days and appoint a former Chief Justice within 48 hours after that.
