Former President John Dramani Mahama made news headlines over the weekend after he once again criticised the judicial arm of the government.
Mahama, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2024 elections, accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, of packing the judicial with loyalists of his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to avoid accountability if his party leaves power.
“He’s packed the court and we know that they’ve packed the court because they want to avoid accountability after they have left office. So, all manner of people who have been known to be partisan, to have been executives of their party who are in the legal profession have been leapfrogged onto the Superior courts and other places,” he said as he was addressing a closing session of the 3rd Lawyers Conference organized by NDC Lawyers Association at Akosombo in the Eastern region.
These comments made by Mahama have become a topic of discussion by Ghanaians both on social media and the traditional media.
But has Akufo-Addo appointed the most judges in the history of the 4th Republic of Ghana? Let’s take the Supreme Court of Ghana, for instance, one of the superior courts, Mahama says Akufo-Addo has filled with NPP loyalists.
The first president of the 4th Republic, Jerry John Rawlings made 11 appointments to the Supreme Court.
His successor, John Agyekum Kufuor, appointed 17 judges in 8 years to the court.
Then came the late former President, John Evans Atta Mills, who appointed 3 judges to the highest court of the land.