Chief Justice On Why Dafeamekpor’s Injunction Application Was Expedited

Ghana’s Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo has explained the decision to expedite the injunction application filed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, Rockson Nelson Etse Kwame Dafeamekpor, aimed at halting parliament’s confirmation of newly nominated ministers by President Akufo Addo.

Justice Torkonoo asserted that the case was ripe for hearing as all necessary procedures had been fulfilled.

Addressing reporters in Accra on Thursday, the Chief Justice revealed new measures to prioritise cases that have completed required processes for prompt hearing within the timelines.

“In this particular case, as soon as the case was filed, the Attorney General filed his response. He filed his affidavit to the opposition. So the case was ripe for hearing. We were going to go on Easter break and the Attorney General wrote and said that this is a matter of governance so could the court issue a hearing notice for the case to be heard, and the court was going to sit on Wednesday, so hearing notices were issued so that the applicant who filed the case himself and who should be interested in his case himself will come to court and the two other respondents will also come to court.

“So the bailiff went and served all of them with hearing notices and when the court sat on that Wednesday, it formed part of our list because hearing notices have been served on everybody and the respondents had filed their affidavit in opposition. At least the Attorney General had.”

“So when the case was called the affidavit of service was on the docket. We knew that the applicant had been served, the speaker had been served, the Attorney General had been served, the speaker’s lawyer was in court, the Attorney General was in court, Attorney General had filed his affidavit in opposition, so nothing should stop the hearing,”  she stated.

She further explained the rationale behind implementing a shift system in certain courts, highlighting the need to alleviate the workload on judges.

The Supreme Court on March 27 dismissed an application filed by South Dayi MP, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, challenging the approval of new ministerial and deputy ministerial nominees.

In a unanimous decision, a five-member panel of the court held that the application was frivolous and an abuse of the court process.

The applicant, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, had sought to halt the vetting process in Parliament pending the determination of his suit challenging the constitutionality of the President’s decision to reassign Ministers without Parliament’s involvement.

However, the Supreme Court ruled that the MP’s case had no direct relevance to the nominees before Parliament, as it primarily concerned reassigned Ministers.

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