Supreme Court Set To Hear Tsatsu's Case

The Supreme Court will on Tuesday, May 14 hear the case in which the former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tsatsu Tsikata is challenging the basis of the Chief Justice’s legal authority to empanel 11 judges in the upcoming review case on the constitutionality of the Fast Track court. The defendants in the case are the Chief Justice and Attorney General. Mr. Tsikata has already won a case in which he challenged the legality of the Fast Track Court.

In the current writ, Tsikata is contending that in view of the clear interest shown by the Chief Justice, the empanelling of the additional Justices would be a way of increasing the chances of a reversal of the majority decision and would be a violation of Article 296(a) and (b) of the constitution. He is thus seeking an interpretation and enforcement of Article 133(2) of the 1992 constitution to the effect that there is no constitutional requirement for a panel of 11 Justices of the Supreme Court to hear a review of a decision by a panel of nine judges.

According to him, the same constitutional clause states that except in a case of a decision by a panel of five judges of the Supreme Court, there is no requirement for the Chief Justice to add additional judges to hear an application for a review of its decisions.

Meanwhile, enquiries at the Supreme Court indicate that no date has been fixed for the much-awaited review. The Court is still awaiting the filing of a supplementary application by the Attorney General’s outfit.