The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has questioned the procedure used by the Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo in requesting for more judges to be appointed to the Supreme Court.

This was after Chief Justice Torkornoo, in a letter, submitted five names to President Akufo-Addo for nomination to the apex court.

Among other things, Madam Torkornoo cited the heavy workload and numerous pending cases as reasons for the demand.

The Ghana Bar Association also believes the procedure used by the Chief Justice is not proper. Already, several legal luminaries and the opposition NDC have condemned the CJ's action.

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Speaking to JoyNews, the Association's spokesperson, Saviour Kudze said the Chief Justice's action was irregular.

"I think that it is just a simple mistake and that is the way I should think because I am not sure that it was intentional. These things sometimes happen," he added.

Giving more details, Mr Kudze said the right procedure would have been for all the recommending bodies to come together, deliberate on the nominees and present the final list to the Judicial Council for onward transmission to the President.

"What is done is that the three recommending bodies, the GBA, the Attorney General's Office and the CJ's Office bring various lists and submit to the Judicial Council. The Judicial Council will now send those names with an advice to the President and the President will now decide to appoint everybody on the list, or some of them or even reject the list.

"Just that he also does not have the right to prepare his own list. He has to get back to the Judicial Council for the process to begin all over," he stressed.

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Meanwhile, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has condemned the Chief Justice’s decision to recommend judges for nomination to the Supreme Court.

According to the party, the proposal is unconstitutional.

During a press conference in Accra, NDC General Secretary Fifi Fiavi Kwetey stated that the constitution does not mandate the Chief Justice to recommend individuals to the President for nomination as Supreme Court judges.

He insists that the Chief Justice’s letter to President Akufo-Addo has no constitutional basis and therefore is of no effect.

“Nowhere in the constitution is the Chief Justice named as the one to recommend persons to the president for appointment to the Supreme Court. We wish to state, without any equivocation, that the Chief Justice’s letter is illegal and of no effect.

“Her actions have completely turned over due process on its head and compromised her independence as the head of the judicial system. We are concerned about a worrying pattern that irresistibly suggests that the president is only appointing loyal members of his party to this court to have control over the judiciary to escape post-regime accountability,” he stated.

• Read also: NDC calls for Chief Justice’s resignation over ‘self-serving’ judicial appointments

The names recommended for nomination to the Supreme Court include Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botchwey, the presiding judge in the ambulance case involving Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, as well as Justice Cyra Pamela Koranteng, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, Justice Eric Kyei Baffuour, and Justice Angelina Mensah Homiah.