The Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Joe Osei-Owusu, has indicated that there will not be a second vetting for Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, the Chief Justice nominee.
This comes after Minority MPs demanded another chance to scrutinize the Supreme Court judgment that resulted in the expulsion of James Gyakye Quayson from Parliament.
The Minority MPs argued that without access to the written reasons behind the court’s decision, they were unable to question the Chief Justice nominee adequately.
A committee meeting held after the vetting on Friday, May 26, ended inconclusively, with no consensus reached on recommending the nominee for approval by the House.
However, Mr Osei-Owusu revealed that the nominee would be approved by a majority decision because there was no need to defer the decision.
“It is our practice that, any time we are done with a public hearing, the Committee sits and considers whether to recommend the person or not, and so the conclusion we came is that there is no consensus. You will recall that [Mahama] Ayariga made a statement that unless they get a copy of the case involving the Assin North MP, they will not support the nominee.
“They [Minority Caucus] came to the vetting with a position; do it for me, or I don’t. We went through the vetting, and we are satisfied that there is no basis for deferring the decision because you want to read the judgment. They also argued that because they have not read the judgment, they won’t support her, but it is a one-off event. We recommend her for approval by a majority decision,” Mr Osei-Owusu added.