Why has the number of Appeals Court judges increased from 26 to 41 under Akufo-Addo - Kwaku Azar

A US-based Ghanaian lawyer and scholar, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, has bemoaned the sudden increase in the number of justices at the Court of Appeals (CoA) of Ghana under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

According to him, the number of Court of Appeal judges has risen sharply, way beyond the minimum of 10 under the current government.

In a post shared on Facebook on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, Prof. Kwaku Asare, who is widely known as Kwaku Azar, said that the number of CoA judges has increased from 26 under the John Dramani Mahama government to 41.

“The CoA has only appellate jurisdiction. The Constitution provides that it shall consist of the CJ & not less than 10 Justices of the CoA, and such other Justices of the Superior Court as the CJ may, for the determination of a particular cause or matter, request to sit in the CoA for any specified period.

“The CoA now has 41 judges compared to 29 and 27 at the end of 2018 & 2016, respectively… It went up from 29 to 41 in less than 5 years. From a minimum of 10, we now stand at 41 and could hit 50 soon,” parts of the post read.

He added that there has to be a reason for the increase in the number of judges at the CoA because a lot of cases are still pending despite the increase.

“Between July 2017 and June 2018, the CoA concluded 1,621 cases, compared to 1,336 for the 2015–16 reporting period. At the end of the 2018 reporting period, 3,014 cases were still pending. At the end of the 2016 reporting period, 2,542 cases were still pending.

“There must be clarity as to why the number of CoA justices keeps increasing... Maybe there are good reasons for the surge. Maybe there are bad reasons for the surge. But let the people know why,” Kweku Azar wrote.

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Read his full post below:

The CoA now has 41 judges compared to 29 and 27 at the end of 2018 & 2016 respectively.

Between July 2017 and June 2018, the CoA concluded 1,621 cases compared to 1,336 for the 2015/16 reporting period.

At the end of the 2018 reporting period, 3,014 cases were still pending. At the end of 2016 reporting period, 2,542 cases were still pending.

GOGO is concerned that the last annual report provided by the Judicial Service, at least publicly, is 2018. This is not good and can’t be excused by COVID.

He’s therefore calling on the Judicial Service to immediately release the annual reports of 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Public entities should not be tardy in the release of their annual reports and the compliance with their reporting obligations. GOGO will no longer tolerate the tardiness.

The CoA has only appellate jurisdiction. The Constitution provides that it shall consist of the CJ & not less than 10 Justices of the CoA; and such other Justices of the Superior Court as the CJ may, for the determination of a particular cause or matter, request to sit in the CoA for any specified period.

There must be clarity as to why the number of CoA justices keeps increasing. It went up from 29 to 41 in less than 5 years. From a minimum of 10, we now stand at 41 and could hit 50 soon.

Maybe there are good reasons for the surge. Maybe there are bad reasons for the surge. But let the people know why.

#SALL is the cardinal sin of the 8th Parliament.

Da Yie!

BAI/SEA

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