The Executive Director of Solidaire Ghana (a policy think-tank) Mr. Benjamin Essuman has called on the Speaker of Parliament, Rt Honorable Alban Kingsford Bagbin to rally parliamentarians to amend the rules of the Courts.
Responding to the Supreme Court ruling on Parliament’s Standing Orders on his Facebook wall, the head of the policy-tank called on Parliament to pass a law to regulate how judges are appointed to sit on high profile cases in the country.
According to him, the amendment must be made such that judges appointed or promoted by a President shall not be made to sit over cases brought against the same President and his government.
He found fault in the method used in empanelling the seven Supreme Court justices who ruled last week to amend the Standing Orders of Parliament to enable presiding Deputy Speakers to vote.
“This 7:0 where we had one Kufuor appointed Supreme Court judge and six Akufo-Addo appointed Supreme Court judges, is repugnant and nauseating to say the least,” he stated.
He stated that if the Judges are not ashamed to meddle in the Standing Orders of Parliament, the Speaker of Parliament must not also be ashamed to meddle in the rules of the Court.
Background.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 9 January 2022 declared, that a Deputy Speaker or any other member presiding as the Speaker of Parliament, shall not lose his original vote.
The Supreme court’s Panel; which was made up of seven Justices presided over by Justice Jones Dotse, dismissed an application to pronounce as unconstitutional; the action of the First Deputy Speaker Of Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu for counting himself for the purposes of forming a quorum in parliament whiles presiding over proceedings.
