There is no basis for Chief Justice nominee to be revetted – Chairman of Appointments Committee
Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, says that Chief Justice Nominee, Justice Justice Gertrude Torkornoo will not be revetted.
According to him, there is no basis for the nominee to be recalled by the committee.
The Minority Caucus has requested for the details of the judgement on James Gyakye Quayson, former Assin North MP to be made available so they can pass a vote on the nominee.
They thus refrained from passing a vote on the nominee after the Appointments Committee of Parliament met after vetting the Supreme Court Justice on Friday, May 26.
Due to this, the NDC MPs are demanding full judgement before any decision is taken.
“The Minority Members on the Appointments Committee of Parliament did not vote on the President’s nominee for the position of Chief Justice today due to the unavailability of the reasoned judgement of the Supreme Court in the matter of Hon. James Gyakye Quayson.”
“It is important to state that the Appointments Committee not long ago in 2019 vetted and approved this same nominee as a justice of the Supreme Court.
“However, it was imperative for Members of The Minority on the Committee to evaluate the decisions of the nominee on all other cases, including the James Gyakye Quayson case since the vetting in 2019,” excerpts of a press release issued by the Caucus said.
However, the Chairman has insisted that there is no justification for the nominee to be recalled and vetted again.
“It is our practice that, any time that we are done with a public hearing, the Committee sits and considers whether to recommend the person or not and so the conclusion we came to was that there is no consensus.”
“You will recall that [Mahama] Ayariga made a statement that unless they get a copy of the case involving the Assin North MP, they will not support the nominee.”
“They [Minority Caucus] came to the vetting with a position; do it for me, or I don’t. We went through the vetting, and we are satisfied that there is no basis for deferring the decision because you want to read the judgment.”
The Bekwai MP added that should the Minority insist on not partaking in the voting process, the Majority Caucus will recommend her for approval by the Majority decision.
“They also argued that because they have not read the judgment, they won’t support her, but it is a one-off event. We recommend her for approval by a Majority,” he added.
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