Legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has called for a broad national conversation on whether Ghana should increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court.

Mr Kpebu was speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show, in response to comments made by Justice Philip Bright Mensah, a nominee to the Supreme Court, who had proposed during his vetting in Parliament that the bench should be expanded to 20 judges.

“That is one opinion; it is not new,” he noted. “There are some adherents of that opinion who think we should cap it at 20, but where I come from is that we need to have a national debate first. So what Justice Mensah has stated is his opinion, it deserves consideration.”

Mr Kpebu stressed that while the constitution does not fix a specific number of justices, there is an established convention in Ghana that limits the Supreme Court to 15 judges, including the Chief Justice.

“It’s been accepted that it is the convention in Ghana. Some say 14 plus the Chief Justice, which makes it 15. This case even went to the African Peer Review Mechanism during President Kufuor’s time,” he explained.

He insisted that any decision to change the current composition should not be left solely to the President and the judiciary.

“If we are going to move beyond that number, let’s have a debate first,” he urged. “Let all the people weigh in, especially lay people. Let’s see how in the debate we’ll agree to deploy technology to help reduce the load, etc.”

Mr Kpebu referenced recent events under President Akufo-Addo’s administration to support his argument. He recalled public outcry after a letter from the Chief Justice requested new appointments to the bench.

“A few months ago, when Akufo-Addo was president, there was a letter from the Chied Justice asking the president to make nominations. We had a national debate of our own; people were very upset,” he said. “At the end, it became clear that we don’t agree that the President and the Chief Justice alone should meet and decide the number.”

He also referenced research by constitutional law expert Prof H. Kwasi Prempeh and thoughts from economist Adam Smith to highlight the importance of public participation in justice system reforms.

“Adam Smith said matters of appointing Justices, etc, citizens should be allowed to also weigh in, to also express their opinion.,” he said.

Mr Kpebu also added his call for the open dialogue saying, “Our convention is on 15. If you want to break the 15, involve ordinary people. It is a democracy, it is not government by a few wise people,” he said.

“I’m not necessarily tied to any number; I’m just advocating that we open the debate. If people agree with 20, the rest of us will go along with it.”