Let 9 Supreme Court Judges hear NPP's election petition - FGJ proposes

The Forum for Governance and Justice (FGJ) has suggested to the Chief Justice, to consider empanelling all the Justices of the Supreme Court to sit on substantive case of the NPP’s challenge of the electoral results.

According to the FGJ, if the Chief Justice saw the need to empanel a nine-member bench to hear and decide the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) application to be joined in the petition by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), then it is not unreasonable to make this request, given the nature of the case at hand and its likely implications for our nation.

Convener for the FGJ, Dr. Clement Apaak in a statement said: “Our suggestion is also informed by the fact that since 1992 two main political parties have rule Ghana, the NDC and the NPP”.

“Equally, it is true that all the Justices of the Supreme Court appointed since the coming into effect of the 1992 constitution were appointed by a leader elected on the ticket of one of the two parties now in court over the 2012 presidential poll”.

Dr. Apaak stressed that, the nature of the case requires a concerted effort “to avoid needless and baseless speculations about loyalties and or lack thereof, the reasons why the FGJ believes that all the Justices of the Court should be empanelled”.

“If nine sat on an application for a joinder, then asking the full house to sit on the substantive case that has consequences for our democracy is not out of place in the national interest,” Dr. Apaak proposed.