National Coordinator of the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), Nii Lante Vanderpuye, has rejected suggestions that President John Dramani Mahama is attempting to politically "balance" the Supreme Court with his latest nominations to the bench.
Speaking on Breakfast Daily on May 1, 2025, Vanderpuye clarified that President Mahama never pledged to tilt the judiciary for political gain.
Rather, he had encouraged lawyers in general to consider careers on the bench as a way to contribute meaningfully to the country's judicial system. "President Mahama never said anywhere that when he becomes President, he will balance," Vanderpuye said.
He continued: "He gave an advice to our Lawyers and he said 'he is encouraging them to move from the bar to the bench, so that when their time is due, they can also be promoted to the Supreme Court, so that we'll balance the perception that the government was packing the Supreme Court with its apparatchiks.'" He welcomed the nomination of seven new justices to the Supreme Court and observed that public discourse this time has focused more on the qualifications of the nominees than on political affiliations. "I'm happy one thing that my brother mentioned-the issue of justification for the need for more Judges.
