Private Legal Practitioner, Bobby Banson, has stated that there is nothing wrong with Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo asking the President to nominate more justices to the Supreme Court.
His comments come after Justice Torkornoo justified her proposal for an expanded bench at the Supreme Court.
In a letter to the President, she underscored the urgent requirement for the expansion of the Supreme Court bench, stating, “In view of the realities of the court’s workload and output and the need for the court to appropriately serve the justice needs of the nation.”
She also detailed the current operational conditions of the Supreme Court of Ghana (SCOG), which functions three days a week in alternating weeks to handle its workload.
“Two days are used for panel sitting, and one day for the sitting of a single judge. The SCOG therefore sits 12 times a month. On any given day of sitting, the court deals with a minimum of 15 cases and so works on not fewer than 45 matters in a week or approximately 180 matters in a month,” she clarified.
During a discussion on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, Mr Banson backed the Chief Justice’s proposal.
He explained that this was because she, as the Chairperson of the Judicial Service, was aware of its requirements and had made a request in line with those needs.
“The Chief Justice is the chairperson of the judicial council…I don’t think that the Chief Justice intended by her letter that the mere fact that she has written the letter means that tomorrow the President will announce that Kofi, Ama, Yaa their names contained in the letter are now justices of the Supreme Court.
“I do not think that that has ever happened, and I do not think that was the intention of the Chief Justice when she wrote the letter. So, if the Chief Justice thinks that looking at the data, I will need more persons to join so that perhaps we can even start sitting on Mondays, we can even start sitting on Fridays to deal with urgent matters.”
“So, I do not see anything wrong with the Chief Justice who has the constitutional mandate, this same constitution to ensure that there is efficiency in justice delivery,” he affirmed.
