Packing the Bench or Resetting: Mahama's 65 judges appointments in 10 months in perspective

President John Dramani Mahama’s appointment of justices to the Superior Courts of Ghana — the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court — have raised eyebrows, leading to a debate over the president’s motives.

These debates are premised on the president's promise to reset the judiciary, which, according to him, is on the decline and has lost the trust of the Ghanaian people. This, he said while he was in opposition, as well as his comments on balancing the court with lawyers of his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Mahama, in 2023, called for a balancing out of Ghana's Bench, which he said was currently packed with persons who were sympathetic to the New Patriotic Party (NPP), urging lawyers in the NDC to prepare themselves to get onto the Bench to balance out the massive appointments of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the then president.

"You can see what the current president has done; he has appointed the biggest number of judges onto the bench. It is more than 80 towards 100 and counting… He has packed the court, and we know they have packed the court because they want to avoid accountability after they have left office. We must be prepared as NDC legal persons to also go onto the bench so that we can balance out the judiciary,” he noted in a virtual address to the 3rd Annual Lawyers Conference of the NDC on Saturday, September 2, 2025.

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He added, "Currently, the judiciary is packed with NPP-inclined judges because this government has carried out a deliberate policy of putting their people on the Bench. So, I encourage some of you to look at careers on the Bench so that we can balance out what the current situation is."

And it appears the president meant business, for which reason he has hit the ground running since his swearing-in on January 7, 2025. John Dramani Mahama has appointed 65 Superior Court justices in less than a year of becoming president again.

Here is a breakdown of the number of justices Mahama has appointed, juxtaposed against the appointments by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

High Court judge appointment:

President Mahama, in his first 10 months in office, has so far appointed 37 High Court judges, who he swore into office on October 23, 2025.

This number represents over 30% of the total number of High Court judges former President Akufo-Addo appointed while in office.

Akufo-Addo appointed about 113 justices to the High Court in the eight years of his government, which was heavily criticised by Ghanaians, including the now President Mahama.

But in less than a year, Mahama has appointed about a third of all the High Court justices Akufo-Addo appointed in eight years.

LIVESTREAMED: President Mahama swears in 21 new Appeal Court Justices

Court of Appeal judge appointment:

President Mahama has also appointed and sworn in 21 justices of the Court of Appeal. These judges are made up of 20 from the High Court who got promotions and one private legal practitioner.

One of the things former President Akufo-Addo was heavily criticised for was that, while he was in office, 44 of the 48 judges of the Court of Appeal were appointed by him.

Now, President Mahama, in less than 11 months, has appointed nearly half of the total number of justices of the Court of Appeal that Akufo-Addo appointed.

The 21 judges appointed by President Mahama are about 48% of the total number of Court of Appeal justices appointed by Akufo-Addo.

Supreme Court judge appointment:

John Mahama’s first appointment to the Bench was the appointment of seven justices to the apex court of Ghana, the Supreme Court.

Former President Akufo-Addo, in the eight years of his government, appointed 15 judges to the Supreme Court of Ghana.

This means that Mahama, in just 10 months, has appointed about half (50%) of the justices Akufo-Addo appointed to the Supreme Court, which he heavily criticised.

Sacking and the appointment of a Chief Justice:

Another point worth noting is that President John Dramani Mahama sacked the Chief Justice who swore him into office, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, upon the recommendation of a five-member committee he set up to probe three petitions for her removal, in accordance with Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

The president has now nominated an Acting Chief Justice, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, for appointment as the substantive Chief Justice.

If Justice Baffoe-Bonnie’s nomination is confirmed by Parliament, which is expected, given the super majority the ruling NDC has in the House, it would mean that Mahama, in just 10 months, has appointed one Chief Justice, seven justices of the Supreme Court, 21 justices of the Court of Appeal and 37 High Court judges.

BAI/AE

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