Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, the nominee for chief justice, will not go through a second vetting, according to Joseph Osei-Owusu, chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament.
This choice was made during a thorough vetting session in Parliament on May 26, during which Minority MPs wanted an additional opportunity to examine the Supreme Court ruling that led to James Gyakye Quayson’s expulsion from the House of Representatives.
The Minority MPs said that they were unable to thoroughly interrogate the nominee for Chief Justice because they did not have access to the written justifications for the court’s decision.
Sadly, the Committee’s meeting today, Friday, May 26, came to a deadlock because no decision was made over whether to recommend the nominee for House approval.
However, Joseph Osei-Owusu, the chairman of the committee, said that there is no need to postpone the decision and that the nominee will be accepted by a majority vote.
“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. 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 decision,” the Chairman of the committee added.
Source: Citinewsroom
