Parliament has approved the appointment of three Justice-designates to the Supreme Court in spite of objections from the Minority Caucus.
The approval of the three nominees was by majority decision at both the committee and plenary levels.
The nominees are Justice Edward Amoako Asante and Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko Essah, both Justices of the Court of Appeal, and Anthony Forson Jr., a private legal practitioner.
The approval came after the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Bernard Ahiafor, who is also the First Deputy Speaker, presented the committee’s report on the nominees and recommended that the House adopt it and approve their appointments.
Approval by majority
Presenting the committee’s report, Mr Ahiafor said the Minority Caucus had raised preliminary objections to the vetting of the nominees during the public hearing.
He said although the objections were responded to, Minority members of the committee staged a walkout and stated that “they have washed their hands from the rest of the processes leading to the vetting of all the three nominees.”
He, however, said following the vetting, the majority of members present and voting recommended that the House approve the three nominees as Justices of the Supreme Court, having satisfied the constitutional requirements under Article 104.
Minority’s objection
Justifying the Minority’s decision to oppose the approval, the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said the Caucus did not support the appointments for “good reasons.”
He said the two ministerial nominees and three nominees for appointment as Justices of the Supreme Court were referred to the Appointments Committee on Monday.
According to him, the emergency recall of Parliament, which ended today, left the committee with only three working days to vet five nominees for two of the most consequential classes of offices in the Republic.
He said the Minority raised a preliminary objection before a single question was put to the three judicial nominees.
That objection, he said, was based on nine distinct grounds, each drawn from the Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament, but was dismissed by the Chairman of the committee.
He said following the dismissal of the Minority’s objection, the Caucus withdrew from the proceedings.
“What this House is now asked to adopt is a report produced afterward by Majority members alone,” he said.
‘We’re not against nominees’
Mr Afenyo-Markin stressed that the Minority’s objection was not directed at the nominees themselves and urged the House not to portray it as such.
“Our objection, as I have already stated, has nothing whatsoever to do with the persons of Justice Sophia Bernasko Essah, Justice Amoako Asante, or Mr Tony Forson.
“We have not questioned, and we do not question today, the character, the competence or the standing of any of the three nominees before this House,” he said.
He subsequently outlined the nine grounds on which the Minority had based its preliminary objection to the vetting of the nominees.
