"You have called an illegal meeting" - Minority on the vetting of Supreme Court Judges

The Minority in Parliament has stated that the Appointments Committee's scheduled vetting of two Supreme Court Judges is illegal.

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin directed Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko Essah and Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong's nominations to the Appointments Committee for vetting and subsequent report to the House.

Kwame Governs Agbodza, the Minority Chief Whip, expressed his discontent with the majority caucus leadership during a preliminary comment at the meeting on Tuesday. He accused them of organizing the meeting without the knowledge of the committee's minority members.

"In my view, chairman you have called an illegal meeting. A meeting to vet members of the Apex court of our land, the Supreme Court, called at midnight can only be an illegal meeting or an ill-motivated meeting. What will be the reason why a party in government would like to vet a very respected group of people in this country where if all of us disagree they are the ones who will settle it for us? Their vetting will be such a controversy.”

“I put on the platform don’t actually smear the Supreme Court judges by getting them involved in this shabby arrangement because there is no rush. There is no vacancy at the Supreme Court which is detrimental to the delivery of justice as we speak,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson suggested to the house that the vetting of the Judges be delayed until the correct procedure is adhered to.

“The NDC minority is not against any of the two nominees in person. All that we are asking for is an opportunity to do our work well and then diligently do what the public has asked us to do…As soon as possible, let’s advertise and reschedule this,” he remarked.

Source : Lead News Online