The Minority in Parliament have agreed to support the confirmation of Chief Justice nominee Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, chairman of Parliament’s Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei-Owusu, alias Joe Wise, has confirmed.
According to him, it wasn’t until the afternoon of June 5, 2023 that the decision to support the confirmation was communicated unofficially to him.
Joe Wise said on Joy FM’s Top Story programme that he had received a call from the Minority Chief Whip stating that the report on the CJ-nominee should be presented as a consensus report to the plenary.
“I can confirm that my report is ready. As at the time we were writing the report, it was a Majority decision but this afternoon, the Chief Whip (Minority) has called me to say that the Minority did not declare their intention on whether they were voting NO or supporting her.
“But after they have received a copy of the Supreme Court ruling on the Quayson case, they have decided to support her nomination, so the report should be presented as a consensus report. This is the discussion I had with the Chief Whip at 4pm,” he said.
The Minority bloc on the Appointments Committee sat through the vetting of Justice Torkornoo but stated after the process that due to the unsatisfactory nature of some responses she gave on a recent ruling of the apex court, they will await a full judgment to take a decision.
The case in question is the James Gyakye Quayson case that led to the court ordering that the name of the Assin North MP be expunged from Parliament’s records because the processes leading to his nomination to contest the 2020 poll was unconstitutional.
The court after weeks, published the full ruling on June 5, portions of which were critiqued by the National Democratic Congress.
Meanwhile, June 27 has been slated as the date for a by-election to elect a new MP for the area. The ousted MP has been nominated as the NDC’s candidate for the vote despite a criminal case he is facing at the High Court.
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