Opposition to Justice Gaewu’s nomination to Supreme Court fading

In the coming days, Ghana’s Members of Parliament will vote to decide the fate of four justices nominated by President Nana Akufo-Addo to serve on the country’s Supreme Court.

The nominees are Justice Barbara Frances Ackah- Yensu, Justice of the Court of Appeal; Mr Justice George Kingsley Koomson, Justice of the Court of Appeal; Mr Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu Asiedu, Justice of the Court of Appeal; and Mr Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu, Justice of the High Court.

Although President Akufo-Addo nominated the four for elevation onto the Supreme Court Bench in July 2022, it was only recently that the Appointments Committee of Parliament sat to examine the suitability of the nominees at a public hearing in Accra. Thus, the House — which reconvened after a three-month-long recess only yesterday, October 25, 2022 — is yet to receive and act on the report of the Committee.

In the meantime, Citi News understands that members of the Appointments Committee still need to build consensus on whether to approve Justice Gaewu’s nomination.

The lack of consensus stems from objections from some Minority MPs, who have argued that his elevation is not desirable and have given several reasons to back their stance.

One is that there are Court of Appeal justices who ought to have been considered ahead of Justice Gaewu, a High Court Judge with only two years of experience on the bench.

Another central plank of the Minority’s argument against Justice Gaewu’s nomination is that he had previously contested unsuccessfully for Parliament on the ticket of the governing NPP and is, therefore, likely to be a partisan judge on the bench. On this charge, the nominee’s response during his vetting on October 19 was that:

“The rules [used] in the Judiciary [differ] from the Executive and that of the Legislature. I am already on the bench and have sworn the oath of allegiance and secrecy and the [judicial] oath, but I have not been partisan. But going into politics is a constitutional right, and I don’t think my politics has affected my work.”

Additionally, Justice Gaewu told the Appointments Committee that he resigned from the NPP on September 16, 2020, and that if passed by Parliament, he would discharge his judicial responsibilities impartially and devoid of any political interference, fear or favour.

In support of the nominee, some Majority NPP MPs have reminded the Minority that although Justice Scott Gabriel Pwamang served previously as a General Secretary of the People’s National Convention (PNC), a political party, that did not stop President John Mahama from elevating him straight from the bar to the Supreme Court in 2015. The majority side has asserted that Justice Pwamang has since discharged his judicial duties with admirable qualities that have won the hearts of legal practitioners, academics and the general public.

A further concern for the Minority was that because of Justice Gaewu’s relatively little experience as a judge, he might not be suitable for a job on the nation’s most powerful court. On this argument, some Majority MPs have quickly replied on various public platforms that extensive experience on the bench is not a constitutional requirement that a Nominee for the Supreme Court should satisfy. In their view, the nomination of Justice Gaewu cannot be faulted because it meets the needs of Article 128 (4) of the 1992 Constitution. It states:

“A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court unless he is of high moral character and proven integrity, and is of not less than fifteen years’ standing as a lawyer.” At his vetting, Justice Gaewu relied on the provision above to defend his nomination. In his words:

“The qualification is 15 years at the bar, but I have 22 years [of] qualification, and I am not the first person to have ever been appointed. [Some people are] appointed straight from the bar without any judicial or bench experience; I have been on the bench and already have the necessary experience to sit there.”

Although the disagreements over Justice Gaewu’s nomination appear to be partisan, Citi News understands that when it comes to a vote in Parliament, NDC MPs from the Volta Region will not hesitate to vote in support of his elevation to the Supreme Court.

“I don’t see anything wrong with Justice Gaewu’s nomination”, one such MP from the Volta Region has told Citi News.

The MP, who wished not to be named, added, “As far as we are concerned, Justice Gaewu is competent and qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. We will, therefore, not blindly follow colleagues who, opposing his nomination, have shown no concrete evidence beyond saying he is a former politician. He is not the first former politician to be named to the Supreme Court, so why the uproar? We will support him and he will go through.”

Readers would recall that President Akufo-Addo appointed Mr Gaewu as a High Court Judge on September 16, at a ceremony at the Jubilee House, Accra. Before his appointment, the respected legal practitioner had served as the Managing Partner at Mawulorm Chambers, a distinguished law firm in Ho, the capital of the Volta Region. The firm was established by Justice Jones Victor Mawulorm Dotse, currently a Supreme Court Judge, during his days as a private legal practitioner.

Shortly after being called to the bar in 2000, Mr Gaewu did his pupillage under Mr Dotse, a private legal practitioner at that time. He later rose to the position of secretary of the Volta Regional branch of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA).

Mr Gaewu has served on many boards and committees within and outside the region. For example, in 2011, Mr Gaewu worked with the Volta Regional Football Association, serving as the Vice Chairman of the Association’s Disciplinary Committee. In 2014, he became the Chairman of the Committee and later the Association’s lawyer.

Citi News has since found that although Justice Gaewu has so far done only two years on the High Court bench, he has handed down several significant decisions that have settled disputes between parties appearing before him. Below are some of the major decisions he made as a High Court Judge since November 2020.