‘No Supreme Court seat is vacant’ — Afenyo-Markin objects to rushed Supreme Court nominees’ vetting

Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has challenged the urgency surrounding the proposed vetting of three nominees for appointment to the Supreme Court, arguing that there is currently no vacancy on the apex court to justify what he described as a compressed parliamentary timetable. Mr Afenyo-Markin objected on Thursday, August 27, 2026, when the Appointments Committee began the vetting of the three nominees nominated by President John Dramani Mahama. He stressed that the Minority’s position should not be interpreted as opposition to either the nominees or the President’s constitutional authority to make appointments to the Supreme Court.

Rather, he said the objection was directed at the procedure and the speed with which Parliament was being asked to consider the nominations. “This is not an objection to the principle of vetting. It is an objection to the nominee; neither is it an objection to the nominees as individuals.

It is an objection grounded in the Constitution, the 1992 Constitution and the standing orders of Parliament,” he said. ‘No vacancy, no urgency’ At the heart of the Minority’s objection, Mr Afenyo-Markin said, was the absence of a vacant seat on the Supreme Court. Together they are, in our respectful submission conclusive: one, ground one, that there is no vacancy and therefore no exigency capable of justifying a compressed timetable,” he said.

“Chairman, the Supreme Court of Ghana presently sits with its full complement of justices. No seat on the bench is vacant.” According to him, the three nominees were being considered as additions to the existing membership of the court rather than replacements necessitated by the death, retirement or removal of serving justices. “The three persons before this committee are nominated to add to the existing membership of the court, not to fill any gap left by death, retirement or removal,” he stated.

He argued that the distinction was important because the justification for accelerating the process appeared to be based on urgency. “This matters because the entire justification offered for compressing the ordinary voting timetable is urgency. Urgency requires an urgent state of affairs where no vacancy exists,” he said.

Mr Afenyo-Markin therefore challenged the Majority to demonstrate the specific consequences of delaying the appo… The Minority in Parliament has demanded the deferment of the vetting of three Supreme Court nominees, arguing that there is no urgent vacancy on the bench to justify the process being rushed. The three nominees are Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko Essah, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, and private legal practitioner Anthony Forson Jnr.