President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has nominated Justice Sophia Rosseta Bernasko Essah and Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong for appointment as Supreme Court judges.
Justice Essah is a Justice of the Court of Appeal; while Prof Frimpong Oppong is a legal academic and Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Sciences.
Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin announced their nominations on the floor of Parliament based on a communication from the President.
The President noted that the nominations were because of pending and projected vacancies on the Supreme Court, occasioned by the retirement of Justice Nii Ashie Kotey on 2nd October 2023, and the pending retirement of Justice Mariama Owusu on 18th November 2024.
The Speaker referred the President’s nominees to the Appointments Committee of Parliament for consideration and report to the House.
He urged the House to look at the issue of the full complement of the Supreme Court; saying; “should it be 13? should it be 15? Should it be 20? 40? Or hundred? It is for this House to decide.”
“And I am urging you to look at this issue during the Constitutional Reforms or to pass legislation to give an upper limit as to how many can be at the Supreme Court of a country of 33 million people. Please this is a notice to you.”
GNA
BM/ABD
22 July 2024
