|
Number of Supreme Court Judges problematic – Mould-Iddrisu
Accra, Feb 9, Ghanadot/GNA – Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu,
Minister-Nominee for Justice and Attorney-General, on Monday
said the situation where the number of Judges that could be
appointed to the Supreme Court remained open, made room for
Executive manipulation of the Judiciary.
She said when approved as Minister of Justice and
Attorney-General, she would advise the President to place an
upper limit on the number of Judges that could be appointed
to the Supreme Court at a time.
She was answering questions from Members of the
Parliamentary Appointments Committee.
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu, who is currently Head of the Legal
Department of the Commonwealth Secretariat, noted that
because of the absence of a limit to the number of Judges
that could be appointed to the Supreme Court, the Executive
had compromised the independence of the judiciary through
ill-intentioned appointments.
“The Judiciary should be manifestly seen as independent and
I believe when we place an upper limit on the number of
Supreme Court Judges, it will go a long way to serve the
purpose,” she said.
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu said she would advise the President to
legalise regulations that would ameliorate taxes and tariffs
and that she would also initiate action to operationalise
the Disability Law and also expedite the passage of the
Freedom of Information Bill.
She said there was the need for the citizenry to come along
with government to ensure the success of the nation’s
development agenda, adding that the Freedom of Information
Law would open up government activities to the public and
engender public confidence in the Executive.
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu also proposed that the office of
Attorney-General (A-G) should be separated from that of the
Minister of Justice and that the A-G position should be
constitutionally entrenched to insulate it from arbitrary
dismissal by the President.
Asked if her inexperience in ordinary and constitutional
litigation would not adversely affect her work as the main
legal advisor to the President, she said she would depend on
the top team of competent assistants at the A-G’s Office.
She said the Law on Wilfully Causing Financial Loss to the
State was good but needed better interpretation and
explanation.
She told the Committee that when given the nod she would
facilitate the implementation of laws that criminalised
Trokosi and the operation of witch camps in the country.
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu defended comments she allegedly made,
describing the courts as kangaroo courts, saying she made
those remarks on a political platform in a particular
context and that she did not refer to all Ghanaian courts.
GNA
|
