Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo has called for a comprehensive review of the structure and processes governing Ghana\u2019s judiciary, including judicial appointments, and removal procedures, to ensure greater transparency and accountability while maintaining the independence of the institution.<\/p>\n
Speaking on\u00a0Channel One TV\u2019s The Point of View<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>with Bernard Avle on Wednesday, November 5, Justice Akuffo said it was time for the country to \u201creconceive the judiciary\u201d and examine how judges are appointed and disciplined.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a passionate view and I have had it for quite a long time about how the judiciary is appointed, because the manner in which the appointment is made leaves a lot to be desired,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n According to her, the current system lacks transparency and has led to public speculation about political interference and favoritism in judicial appointments.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is not much transparency in the process, and it\u2019s important for that to happen, because otherwise, it leads to all kinds of speculation \u2014 that someone got appointed because of this or that \u2014 since people may not know the reality of the qualifications and merits of the appointment,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n Justice Akuffo suggested that Ghana should consider adopting models where independent bodies, rather than political actors, oversee judicial appointments. Such bodies, she said, could comprise representatives from professional and social groups who are selected based on merit and credibility, not political preference.<\/p>\n She further cautioned against arbitrary limits on the number of Supreme Court judges, noting that Ghana\u2019s apex court is overburdened due to the wide range of cases it must handle.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can only begin to talk about limiting the number of Supreme Court justices if you also look at the scope and magnitude of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. For as long as everyone has a right of access, and cases of all kinds keep coming, how can you limit the number of judges?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n Justice Akuffo argued that unlike jurisdictions such as the United States, where the Supreme Court selects which cases to hear, Ghana\u2019s system allows \u201ccome one, come all,\u201d resulting in excessive workload and inefficiency at the highest level of the judiciary.<\/p>\n She emphasized that strengthening judicial independence through transparent appointments and practical reforms is essential to maintaining public trust and the integrity of Ghana\u2019s justice system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo has called for a comprehensive review of the structure and processes governing Ghana\u2019s judiciary, including judicial appointments, and removal procedures, to ensure greater transparency and accountability while maintaining the independence of the institution. Speaking on\u00a0Channel One TV\u2019s The Point of View\u00a0with Bernard Avle on Wednesday, November 5, Justice Akuffo said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123457,"featured_media":14205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,3718,17],"tags":[3853,4428,4427],"class_list":["post-14204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","category-legal","category-opinion","tag-headlines","tag-judicial-appointments","tag-sophia-akuffo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/123457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14206,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14204\/revisions\/14206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}