Supreme Court to rule on Richard Sky, GBA case today

The Supreme Court will today define the terms under which Presidents can appoint Justices to the Superior Courts as well as Chairpersons for the the Electoral Commission.

The landmark verdict will determine whether or not the President is bound to appoint a chairperson for the Electoral Commission (EC) based on the strict advice of the Council of State, and Supreme Court justices in strict accordance with the advice of the Judicial Council.

The apex court will make the ruling in a case brought before it by the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Kwasi Danso Acheampong and Richard Dela Sky, a journalist who had earlier filed separate suits but the Supreme Court urged them to consolidate the cases.

The GBA is praying the Court to declare that upon true and proper construction of Article 144 clauses (2) and (3) of the 1992 Constitution, all appointments made by the President of the Republic of Ghana to the Supreme Court are valid on condition that they are made in strict accordance with the advice of the Judicial Council.

On the part of Richard Dela Sky and Mr. Acheampong, they were seeking an interpretation of Article 70 of the 1992 Constitution on whether or not the President must act in accordance with the advice of the Council of State in appointing the chairperson of the Electoral Commission.

Mr. Sky and Acheampong’s suits arise from a friction between two constitutional provisions.

The first one enjoins the President to make such an appointment based on the advice of the Council of State.

However, another provision states that the President is not bound by the recommendations of the Council of State.

In their statement of case, the plaintiffs averred that what in their view was pivotal in the determination of the suit was whether or not the operative phrase “acting on the advice of the Council of State” had any mandatory binding effect.

“Our humble view is that the use of the phrase is not accidental and, therefore, has a binding effect, as used in the context of the 1992 Constitution,” their writ posited.

GBA suit
The GBA suit was triggered by the appointment of two new Justices to the Supreme Court.

They are  Justice Yaw Apau and Gabriel Pwamang.
According to the GBA the appointment of Justice Yaw Apau and Gabriel Pwamang by the president is in violation of the recommendations by the Judicial Council.

–
By: citifmonline.com/Ghana