Ghana Parliament approves three Supreme Court nominees

Ghana's Parliament has approved three nominees for the Supreme Court: Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko Essah, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, and private legal practitioner Anthony Forson Jnr. The approval follows a contentious vetting process by the Appointments Committee on August 27, 2026.

The proceedings were marked by a boycott from the Minority Caucus, led by Alexander Afenyo-Markin. The Minority staged a walkout, protesting what they described as an unnecessarily hurried vetting process and questioning the need for urgency since there were no existing vacancies. Afenyo-Markin further accused the governing National Democratic Congress of double standards, noting that the current expansion of the court contradicts previous party stances against “packing” the judiciary.

During vetting, nominees addressed various judicial issues. Anthony Forson Jnr opposed proposals to cap the number of Supreme Court justices, arguing that the court's broad constitutional jurisdiction makes a numerical limit impractical. He also suggested that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) could be utilized to address case backlogs. Justice Bernasko Essah stated that the Supreme Court should be able to depart from previous decisions if they result in injustice or conflict with the Constitution.