Chief Justice’s proposal to increase supreme court judges to 20 unnecessary – Gyampo

Professor Ransford Gyampo, a senior political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, has questioned the motives behind the Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo’s proposal to increase the number of Supreme Court judges from 15 to 20.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, July 6, Gyampo argued that the US, a country with over 300 million litigious people, has only 9 Supreme Court judges, while Ghana, with a population of 32 million and a less litigious culture, does not need 20 judges at its apex court.

He cited a 2005 report by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) that recommended a maximum of 14 judges at the Supreme Court and a research work by the Institute of Economic Affairs-Ghana Political Parties Programme (IEA-GPPP) that advocated for a ceiling on the number of judges to prevent court packing and manipulation.

Gyampo expressed surprise that the Chief Justice is not aware of these reports and urged her to focus on addressing the trust deficit in the judiciary rather than deepening the problem by appointing more judges.

“The Chief Justice must read the various survey reports and Afrobarometer works on the Judiciary and devote much time to fixing the trust deficit of the Courts,” Gyampo said.

He added that the proposal “will deepen the derogatory perception and popular trust deficit in the courts” and urged the Chief Justice to reconsider her decision.

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