The National Coordinator for the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, has urged a constitutional amendment to set a definitive limit on the number of judges appointed to Ghana's Supreme Court, warning that unchecked appointments risk undermining judicial independence.
Speaking on Channel One TV's Breakfast Daily on Thursday, May 1, Vanderpuye warned against the possibility of future presidents stacking the bench with loyalists to influence judgments in politically sensitive cases.
According to him, the absence of a ceiling on Supreme Court appointments gives room for abuse of executive powers. "We need to prevent the situation whereby I become a president and I want a matter settled, so I bring in people who I know sympathise with me and are loyalists to me so that they can adjudicate a matter that is of interest to me," he cautioned.
He emphasised the importance of the Constitutional Review Committee addressing this gap in Ghana's governance structure. "Our seniors, learned and the citizens on the Constitutional Review Committee should be able to make certain amendments and proposals that will bring finality to the issue of how many people will be on the Supreme Court so that as a country, no president will arrogate to themselves," he stressed.
