30 Aug Parliament approves 5 nominees: 3 Supreme Court appointments, 2 Ministers designate – Minority objects to approval of 3 justices
Parliament has approved unanimously two ministerial nominees and the appointment of three Justices designated for the Supreme Court.
The five persons were vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament last Thursday.
The judges who were approved are Justice Edward Amoako Asante and Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko Essah, both Justices of the Court of Appeal, and Anthony Forson Jnr, a private legal practitioner and former President of the Ghana Bar Association.
The ministerial nominees are the Minister designate for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, and the Minister designate for Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings.
The approval of the three judges was secured in spite of objections from the Minority Caucus, who vehemently opposed their vetting, citing nine grounds, including inadequate notice which would have enabled the larger public to participate in the exercise through memoranda.
Hence, the approval of the three nominees was by majority decision at both the committee and plenary levels, with the Minority side walking out of the Appointments Committee sitting to vet the judges nominated to the apex court of the land – the Supreme Court.
The approvals 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 judges 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 of the rest of the processes leading to the vetting of all the three nominees.”
The First Deputy Speaker, 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 last Monday.
According to him, the emergency recall of Parliament, which ended last Thursday night, left the committee with only three working days to vet five nominees for two of the most consequential classes of offices in the Republic.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said the Minority raised a preliminary objection before a single question was put to the three judicial nominees.
He said the Minority based its objection on nine distinct grounds, each drawn from the Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament, but was dismissed by the Chairman of the committee.
“What this House is now asked to adopt is a report produced afterwards 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.
The Minority Leader subsequently outlined the nine grounds on which the Minority had based its preliminary objection to the vetting of the nominees.
Ministers
The approval of the two nominees came after the House adopted the report of the Appointments Committee.
Prior to the report’s adoption, legislators on both sides of the House debated the report and unanimously recommended the approval of the nominees, who are both members of the House.
Soon after their approval, the Speaker of Parliament congratulated and urged them to go the extra mile in resolving the various challenges facing their respective ministries.
Mr Bagbin reminded the two ministers that their new responsibilities required them to combine their roles as legislators with their ministerial duties.
Besides, he urged them to continue to draw on the experiences and responsibilities they had previously carried in the House.
“You are going to wear additional hats and that is not going to be easy,” he said.
Pointing to the Mr Ayariga, who is the immediate Majority Leader, Mr Bagbin reminded him that his new assignment would be particularly demanding.
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