President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has decried the alleged appointments of “NPP” Judges to Ghana’s Courts, describing it as extremely dangerous and a brazen attack on the independence of the judiciary.
The President, who rejected those alleged accusations, urged Ghanaians to denounce the public discourse on the concept of “NPP” and “NDC” judges, as it would have widely negative implications on the country’s fledgling democracy.
Former President John Dramani Mahama recently at a meeting with his Party’s lawyers, accused President Akufo-Addo of packing the courts with “NPP judges”, and that one of the key purposes of an NDC victory in 2024 would be to enable him to balance the courts with “NDC judges”.
But speaking at the 2023 Conference of the Ghana Bar Association on Monday, the President said in other jurisdictions and some common law countries, particularly in the United States of America, the political colour of judges are legitimate topic of public discourse.
He said judges at the District and State levels, within the federal structure of the American Government, are elected officials, and, even though judges at the federal level, including those of the Federal Court of Appeals and the US Supreme Court, are appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate, their political colouring is generally well-known and accepted.
But, historically and in the Ghanaian context, President Akufo-Addo explained that this has not been the case, largely because of the critical, controlling role of the Judicial Council, a non-partisan body chaired by the Chief Justice, in the process of judicial appointments.
“It has meant that judicial appointments are conducted essentially based on professional merit and suitability. Appointments to the lower courts, the High Court and the Court of Appeal are done by the President, exclusively on the advice of the Judicial Council,” he said.
In the case of appointments to the Supreme Court, President Akufo-Addo said because of its unique position in the country’s judicial structure, there are additional requirements of the consultation of the Council of State and the approval of Parliament.
“In the overwhelming number of cases of justices-designate to the Supreme Court, that approval has been given on a bi-partisan basis. You can count on the fingers of a hand the number of justices-designate whose approval met less than unanimous consent,” he added.
The President maintained that he had to go into the matter in some detail because of a “new concept that has been recently introduced into our public discourse by no less a public figure than the 4th President of the 4th Republic, the NDC presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama.”
President Akufo-Addo emphasised that those comments provided another reason, if more were needed, why right-thinking citizens should publicly denounce those unfortunate comments in the public discourse.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
Yes sure