The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has slammed the Chief Justice for what it describes as palpable judicial bias in scheduling political cases in the Supreme Court.
This comes after the Apex Court scheduled the hearing of a case involving Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etse K. Dafeamekpor vs the Speaker of Parliament and Attorney-General (SUIT NO: J1/12/2024) for Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
The MP in a writ filed on March 18 against the Speaker of Parliament and the Attorney General is contending that, a declaration of any Ministerial appointment which has not been subject to prior Parliamentary approval is in direct violation of Article 78(1) of the 1992 Constitution which states that “a Minister of State shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of Parliament” hence the failure of the President to refer some of his re-assigned Ministers to Parliament violates provisions of the 1992 Constitution.
But according to the opposition NDC, it is surprised by the listing of the Dafeamekpor case for hearing, ahead of the case of Richard Dela Sky versus the Parliament of Ghana and the Attorney-General challenging the constitutionality of the Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2024, filled on March 5, 2024.
The NDC is of the view that, Richard Dela’s case which was filed two weeks before Hon. Rockson Dafeamekpor’s writ of summons should have been heard first.
In a statement, the party argued that, “given the recent political deadlock that these two legal suits have created between the Executive arm and the Legislative arm of government, one would have expected that the date of filing of the cases would have informed the timing of their hearing by the apex Court”.
The NDC therefore noted that the move by the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court is a “ploy to fast-track the determination of the suit filed by Hon. Rockson Dafeamekpor, while the determination of the Richard Dela Sky suit is deliberately and unduly delayed, to enable the President shelve the crucial Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill that has been passed by Parliament”.