The Majority in Parliament has rejected the Minority’s objection to the vetting of President John Mahama’s three Supreme Court nominees, insisting that the Appointments Committee must proceed in line with the decision of the House.
The Minority boycotted the vetting on Thursday, August 27, arguing that the timetable for the process had been unnecessarily compressed and that there was no current vacancy on the Supreme Court bench to justify the urgency.
The three nominees are Justice Sophia Bernasko-Essah, a Court of Appeal Justice; Justice Edward Amoako Asante, a Court of Appeal Justice and former President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice; and private legal practitioner Anthony Forson Jr., a former President of the Ghana Bar Association.
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin said the objection was not directed at the nominees personally, but at the timeframe and manner in which Parliament was handling the process.
He called for the 14-day period the Minority had previously demanded while in opposition to be observed.
“These nominations came to the House on Monday. Let us reason together and let us be seen as being consistent with our political views. If you want to follow the precedent, please suspend today’s sitting, properly put out the advert as you requested when you were in opposition, and let us wait for the 14 days,” he said.
Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Bernard Ahiafor, however, dismissed the Minority’s grounds as “flimsy,” “hollow” and “baseless”.
He maintained that the committee had no authority to vary a decision already taken by the full House and said any member dissatisfied with that decision must use the procedures provided under Parliament’s Standing Orders.
“If you are aggrieved by the decision of the House, the method available for you to reverse that decision is contained in our own Standing Orders,” Mr Ahiafor said.
“I will not preside over this committee and purport to vary the orders or directions or decision taken at the plenary by the entire House.”
Mr Ahiafor also rejected the suggestion that the three Supreme Court nominees should be subjected to a different process from other nominees appearing before the committee.
The Minority subsequently walked out of the vetting, leaving the Majority to proceed with the process.
Source: classfmonline.com
