Ahiafor rejects Minority’s objection to vetting of Supreme Court nominees

The Chairman of Parliament’s Appointments Committee, Bernard Ahiafor, has rejected the Minority’s objection to the vetting of three Supreme Court nominees, describing the reasons given by the Minority as flimsy, hollow and baseless.

The disagreement surfaced as the committee began considering the nominations of Justice Sophia Bernasko Essah, Justice Edward Amoako Asante and private legal practitioner Anthony Forson Jr.

The Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo Markin, had called for the vetting to be deferred, arguing that there was no immediate vacancy on the Supreme Court bench that required the nominations to be processed urgently.

He also questioned why the nominees were being considered as additional justices rather than to fill existing vacancies.

Mr Afenyo Markin further argued that the nominations should first be advertised for 14 days before the committee proceeds with the vetting.

But Mr Ahiafor dismissed the objections, insisting that they did not provide sufficient grounds to stop the process.

The disagreement led to a heated exchange between the two senior members of the committee, with Mr Ahiafor telling the Minority that it was taking its objections too far.

The three nominees before the committee are Justice Sophia Bernasko Essah, a Justice of the Court of Appeal; Justice Edward Amoako Asante, a Court of Appeal Justice and former President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice; and Anthony Forson Jr, a private legal practitioner and former President of the Ghana Bar Association.

The committee continued with the vetting despite the dispute.

However, proceedings were later suspended for 30 minutes after the committee had begun vetting Mr Forson.

The disagreement emphasizes the growing tension between the Majority and Minority over the process for approving the latest nominees to Ghana’s highest court.