The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has voiced reservations regarding perceived judicial bias in the prioritization of political cases by the Supreme Court.
The party has criticized Chief Justice’s decision to prioritize the hearing of a case filed by MP for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, over an earlier case filed by Richard Dela Sky against the anti-gay bill.
According to the NDC, the case filed by Richard Dela Sky challenging the constitutionality of the Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2024, should have been given precedence as it was lodged two weeks prior to Dafeamekpor’s case, which questions the constitutionality of recent ministerial nominations.
Richard Dela Sky lodged his writ of summons in the Supreme Court challenging the bill’s constitutionality on March 5, 2024, while the South Dayi MP filed his on March 18, 2024, contesting the constitutionality of recent ministerial appointments by the president.
The NDC contends that despite the clear two-week disparity, the court has slated to hear Dafeamekpor’s case first.
In a statement, the party's General Secretary, Fifi Kwetey, argued that such case scheduling undermines judicial independence and hints at potential bias towards the government.
“Given the recent political tensions arising from these legal challenges between the Executive and Legislative branches, one would expect that the chronology of case filings would determine their hearing schedule by the apex Court.
“However, for unexplained reasons, the case of Hon. Rockson Dafeamekpor, filed last, has been expedited for hearing, while that of Richard Dela Sky, filed two weeks earlier, has not been scheduled at all. This is despite no application for time acceleration being filed by any party in the Dafeamekpor case,” he stated.
Kwetey further alleged that the delay may be a tactic by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo to stall the anti-gay bill's progress.
“It's evident that this is a strategy by the Chief Justice to accelerate the resolution of the suit filed by Hon. Rockson Dafeamekpor, while deliberately and unjustly delaying the determination of Richard Dela Sky’s suit, possibly to allow the President to shelve the significant Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill passed by Parliament.
“The discretionary decisions made by the Chief Justice in case scheduling, particularly in the Supreme Court, reinforce concerns of judicial impartiality. Such maneuvers only bolster the perception that the current Chief Justice is complicit in supporting the actions of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government,” he added.
Below is the statement from the NDC:
Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana