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A Former Chief Justice, Ms Sophia Akuffo, has spoken against capping the number of Supreme Court Justices.
She defended that putting a lid on the number of justices appointed will increase the work load on the justices and also slow down the pace of cases.
She said that “I do not think capping is necessary because the scope of the jurisdiction of the SC is too broad and we need to take a look at it.
“I am not in a position to say the Constitution should now cap the number, but if you want to cap, then we need to also reduce access to the SC, and then we will have something that will be quality-based rather than quantity-based.”
On his part, Chief Justice Anin Yeboah said “they are thinking of cases like the rise of Guantanamo Bay precedence, not your personal injury resulting from an accident on the highway which can go through the hierarchy of the superior courts in Ghana, and the SC judge has no objection but hear it because he is bound by law.
“But there (US), where it all started, it is not like that at all; you cannot compel the SC there to hear those sorts of cases.
“However, in Ghana, what the Constitution says is that some of these cases which commence from the High Court must be heard on second appeal as of right. And who are you to say ‘no’?” he asked rhetorically.
He noted that people calling for a ceiling on the number of judges at the SC do not know the nature of the jurisdiction of the court, and it is a cause for worry.
The two justices shared their views on calls to cap the number of justices appointed to the apex court at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) stakeholder engagement on constitutional review in Accra last Tuesday.
