Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has rejected a request by the Minority to suspend the vetting of Chief Justice nominee, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie.
Addressing the House on Friday, November 7, Speaker Bagbin ruled that there was no constitutional or procedural basis to halt the process over pending court cases.
“There is no constitutional or standing order basis for Parliament to halt the process simply because there are pending cases in court,” the Speaker said.
“Should I accept that argument, it would mean that any litigant could hold Parliament hostage by filing a case and freezing the work of Parliament and its committees. The motion is inadmissible and has been returned to the sponsor, the Minority Leader, Honourable Alexander Afenyo-Markin.”
The Speaker’s ruling follows the Minority’s insistence that the vetting of Justice Baffoe-Bonnie, who currently serves as Acting Chief Justice, should not proceed until all legal challenges filed by the removed Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo, are resolved.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie is scheduled to appear before the Appointments Committee on Monday, November 10, for vetting to become the substantive head of the Judiciary.
However, Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin maintained on the floor that his side would not support any move to vet the nominee while the court processes are pending.
“We will not support a report, that business committee report that has an aspect that says that there is going to be vetting. He [Majority Leader] should take that off, he should withdraw that bit so that the original component of the business committee’s report remains without any vetting whatsoever on Monday,” he said.
He continued; “Mr. Speaker, in any event, we, the minority, as law-abiding as we are, filed a motion several days ago and have done several follow-ups. Mr. Speaker, our minority should not be taken for granted. Awaiting all of this, the majority leader cannot just announce to us that Justice Araba Torkornoo’s prayer does not matter.”
“She is a Ghanaian who was appointed, she has submitted herself to all due process, her rights must be respected, we are not dealing with minds. That vetting will not happen, it will not happen. You must follow due process, follow the law,” Mr Afenyo-Markin added.
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