The Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Saviour Kudze, has indicated that the Association is not opposed to Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo's proposal to increase the number of Supreme Court judges to 20.

In an interview on Joy FM's Newsnite on Monday, the Association's spokesperson Saviour Kudze explained that the 1992 Constitution sets a minimum of nine Justices, along with the Chief Justice making 10.

This, he believes, means the number can be reviewed upwards at any time.

"I don't think that the Chief Justice has done anything wrong by making a request for the conventional 15 judges at the Supreme Court to be expanded to 20," Mr Kudze said in defense of the Chief Justice.

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Chief Justice Torkornoo has submitted five names to President Akufo-Addo for nomination to the Supreme Court, citing a high volume of cases as the reason for the increase.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticised the proposal, labeling it as unlawful.

Also read: Chief Justice broke no law by requesting for additional SC justices – Majority Leader

However, the Majority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, insists that the recommendation is within legal boundaries, emphasising that the Chief Justice has not violated any laws with her proposal.

Mr Kudze stated that the GBA agreed with the Chief Justice's request in principle because the brief was supported by established statistics.

"Our recommendation was that if this is what is happening in terms of workload, then there would be the need to add an additional five, making it 20 as she requested," he said.

He was, however, skeptical about the timing, suggesting that further consultations with Parliament and the Council of State are necessary.

Mr Kudze also described the procedure as "a simple mistake," expressing uncertainty about whether it was intentional.

"The procedure, I must admit, is not what is normally done. Typically, the three recommending bodies—the GBA, the Attorney General's office, and the Chief Justice's office—bring various names and submit them to the Judicial Council, which then sends the names with advice to the President.

"The President can decide to appoint everyone on the list, some of them, or reject the entire list. He does not have the right to prepare his own list," Mr Kudze stressed.