Former President John Dramani Mahama has hinted at plans to resurrect the constitutional review process to set a cap on the number of Supreme Court justices if he is elected president.
Although the constitution specifies a minimum of nine justices on the Supreme Court bench, it does not set an upper limit.
He said the decision would have been made by Ghanaians.
Addressing the media in Accra on Sunday, July 7, former President Mahama said: “We will resurrect the constitutional review process when I become president and when we do that we will put it to the Ghanaian people whether we should retain the 15, whether we should reduce it, or whether we should increase it,” Mahama said.
He also cristicised the Chief Justice Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo for her recommendation to the president to appoint five additional justices to the Supreme Court bench.
He opined that the Chief Justice does not have the constitutional right to make such a reccommendation.
He described the action unusual, stressing that it should be the president who nominates judges based on the advice of the Judicial Council, before forwarding the names to Parliament for approval.
“I can’t understand why the Chief Justice will be the one recommending which judges to appoint,” Mahama remarked.
“The constitution is clear that it is the president who appoints judges with the advice of the judicial council and so the initiative to appoint judges must come from the president and be submitted to the judicial council, he brings it back with advice and the president then forwards to Parliament, that is the procedure.”
“Even capping the number of judges, the constitutional review committee recommended that we cap Supreme Court judges at 15, so the issue for capping the Supreme Court judges is not for the chief justice to say,” he added.
“I don’t think that it should be the chief justice saying that we should increase and cap at 15.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
