Supreme Court seems to be engaged in politics more than law – Arthur Kennedy

A senior member of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Dr. Arthur Kennedy, has raised questions over the neutrality of Ghana’s Supreme Court, citing the trajectory of the court’s recent decisions.

Speaking on the Saturday, October 19, 2024, edition of Joynewsfile, the American-based physician expressed worry over the current trend at the apex court, including the priority given to certain cases over others.

"On too many occasions, like the Domelevo case, the LGBT case, and in this current case, our Supreme Court appears now to be doing more politics than law," he said.

“Because elsewhere in the world, what the judiciary says does not always go, and for Ghana's judiciary, the Supreme Court, to continue to maintain their standing and the respect that they enjoy, they ought to be mindful of where they are in politics. It is strange, for example, that Domelevo's case took as long as it took. It is strange that the LGBT case brutally truncated the law-making process that has been clearly set out, and now brakes have been put on it, and all of a sudden, in this case, we managed to empanel a group of Supreme Court justices, and within a day, a ruling has been made.

"When these things keep happening again and again, there is the perception that our judiciary is biased and too political, as Kan-Dapaah and former President Mahama did say. I fear that sooner or later, we are going to get into the realm where every new government will insist on having its own Supreme Court and its own Electoral Commission because it does not trust the previous one,” he added.

He called for a comprehensive review of the nation’s judicial regime, noting the impact the state will suffer if the judiciary is not guarded in the discharge of its duties.

"So my point is that as a nation, we need to make sure that we put in the guardrails. I think that this judiciary, and particularly this Supreme Court, is too eager to stick its nose in political affairs and to stick it in consistently in a manner that seems to favor one side," he said. "It is dangerous to the stability of our political quality, and I think that this underlines the need for sweeping judicial reforms," Dr. Arthur Kennedy added.

His comment comes on the back of a decision by a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice, to grant an application for a stay of execution against the declaration of four seats as vacant by the Speaker of Parliament.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on Thursday, October 17, 2024, declared four seats vacant in accordance with Article 97 (g) and (h) of the 1992 Constitution.

As part of his ruling, the Speaker also cited precedent in the 2020 case of Fomena MP, Andrew Amoako Asiamah.

However, the Supreme Court, on Friday, October 18, 2024, issued a stay of execution on Speaker Alban Bagbin's ruling, which declared four parliamentary seats vacant.

Parliament has thus been directed to recognize and allow the affected MPs—Cynthia Morrison (Agona West), Kwadjo Asante (Suhum), Peter Kwakye Ackah (Amenfi Central), and Andrew Asiamah (Fomena)—to fully represent their constituencies and carry out their official duties.

The directive remains in effect, not for the 10 days initially requested by the applicants, but until the Supreme Court delivers its final ruling on the case.

The application to stay the Speaker's decision was filed by New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament, who sought the Court's intervention to halt the enforcement of the ruling that would have affected three of their colleagues and one from the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The application was filed ex parte, meaning that neither Speaker Bagbin nor Parliament was joined to the case.

GA

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