Parliament’s appointments committee is set to vet President John Mahama’s Chief Justice nominee, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, today, Monday, 10 November 2025, despite concerns raised by the Minority Caucus on the multiple constitutional and judicial review cases pending at the Supreme Court and the High Court on the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo.
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin is on record as having served notice that the Minority Caucus will fiercely resist the scheduled vetting of Chief Justice nominee Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie. He insisted that Parliament should not proceed while multiple constitutional cases involving the nominee remain unresolved or unadjudicated.
Raising the matter during consideration of the Business Committee’s statement, Afenyo-Markin argued that the House would be undermining the rule of law if it endorsed the vetting amid what he described as troubling pending legal issues.
“We will not support this Business Committee report that says the nominee will be vetted. This House cannot be invited to approve the vetting of the nominee for Chief Justice when there are active constitutional matters before the Supreme Court and the Equal Rights Court of Justice,” he declared.
He criticised the Attorney General for delays in responding to the suits, noting that the state had yet to file substantive answers to several cases challenging judicial decisions and actions affecting some judges.
“It is public knowledge that the learned Attorney General has refused to file a defence in the matters before the Supreme Court. Only last week, he filed a motion seeking leave to file an extension of time,” Afenyo-Markin said.
The Minority Leader further argued that Justice Baffoe-Bonnie’s central role in empaneling the Supreme Court places him in a position of conflict while these suits remain pending.
“The man empowered to empanel the court is the very person who has been nominated,” he stated. “None of the six cases has been listed for hearing, even though he was quick to empanel the court initially. How can we pretend nothing is wrong?”
Afenyo-Markin cited the case involving Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, who is challenging attempts to remove her from office, as an example of delayed justice.
“There is a High Court matter where Justice Torkornoo challenged the warrant of her removal. The Attorney General has filed for constitutional interpretation, yet weeks have passed with no empanelment for a hearing,” he said. “The same applies to the matter involving our colleague, Vincent Assifuah.”
He insisted that these circumstances make the nominee unsuitable for consideration at this time. “The nominee is conflicted. The occupant of the office is being denied her rights, and he refuses to empanel the court. Yet this House is being asked to bless him with a vetting? That will not happen,” he warned.
Confirmation of Vetting
To confirm that the scheduled vetting of the Chief Justice nominee will take place, David Sebatian Damoah, Director of Media Relations at the Parliament of Ghana, issued a statement indicating the date and agreed time for the vetting process.
“The Appointments Committee of Parliament will meet tomorrow, Monday, 10th November,2025, to vet Justice Baffoe Bonnie, Chief Justice Nominee at Parliament House, Accra.
“The vetting exercise is scheduled to commence at 11:00 am prompt and is strictly by invitation. We appreciate your interest in the proceedings and therefore advise you to follow it live on GH Parliament TV and our social media platforms,” David Sebatian Damoah’s statement read.
Background
On Tuesday, 23 September 2025, President John Dramani Mahama nominated Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie to serve as the Chief Justice of Ghana, pending approval of his appointment by the Council of State and Parliament.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie’s nomination followed the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo from office as Chief Justice and head of the judiciary on 1 September 2025.
Born on 26 December 1956, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie began his education at the Goaso Local Authority Primary and Middle Schools, completing his Middle School Leaving Certificate examinations in the late 1960s.
He attended Konongo Odumase Secondary School, where he obtained his GCE Ordinary Level and Advanced Level certificates between 1969 and 1976. He proceeded to the University of Ghana and subsequently to the Ghana School of Law.
While at law school, he was roommates with the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John (later the general secretary of the New Patriotic Party), and close friends with the future Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah. He fondly describes the three of them as forming “a trio of village law students”.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie was called to the Ghana Bar in 1983. He began his judicial career as a circuit court judge in Kumasi and later served as a high court judge in Duayaw Nkwanta. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2006.
In June 2008, President John Agyekum Kufuor made him a justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana.
In 2013, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie was on the panel of Supreme Court judges that adjudicated the landmark election petition filed by the NPP, seeking to annul approximately four million votes from the 2012 general election because of alleged irregularities. Ultimately, the court dismissed the petition.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie hails from Sewua in the Bosomtwe District of the Ashanti Region through his father, Opanyin Baffoe-Bonnie, and from Breman in Kumasi through his mother, Ama Kyerewaa.
