Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, has sued the Chief Justice, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, at the Supreme Court.
In his suit, Oppong Nkrumah names Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie as the first defendant and the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dominic Ayine, as the second defendant.
In the writ, filed on Friday, August 14, 2026, the MP is challenging the constitutionality of administrative warrants issued by the Chief Justice directing selected High Court judges to sit and conduct criminal trials during the legal vacation.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah is invoking the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Articles 2(1) and 130(1) of the 1992 Constitution.
He is seeking declarations that the administrative warrants issued by the Chief Justice are inconsistent with the Constitution and are therefore null and void.
Parts of the writ stated, “A declaration that the action of the Honourable Chief Justice to promote and facilitate the hearing of “special criminal cases” in the legal vacation to the total neglect of other criminal cases is tantamount to selective justice which contravenes the letter and spirit of Article 17(1) of the Constitution 1992 and therefore unconstitutional, null and void.”
“The Plaintiff readily acknowledges that the office of the Chief Justice occupies a unique constitutional position as the head of the Judiciary and is entrusted with broad administrative responsibilities for the effective and efficient functioning of the courts,” the statement said.
“It is a cardinal principle of Ghana’s constitutional order that every constitutional power, however extensive, is subject to the supremacy of the Constitution,” he said.
“The Constitution does not recognise absolute or unreviewable discretionary power. Every public authority, including the Chief Justice, must exercise administrative and discretionary powers in a manner that is fair, reasonable, transparent, non-arbitrary and consistent with the Constitution,” the statement added.
According to him, “The impugned warrants have the practical effect of according priority to selected criminal cases while other pending criminal cases remain outside the scope of the warrants.”
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie has told the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and Lawyers representing Abdul-Hanan Wahab and former National Signals Bureau Director-General Kwabena Adu-Boahene, Godfred Dame and Atta Akyea that legal vacation doesn’t stop judges from hearing cases.
Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie debunked suggestions that lawyers can decline to proceed with cases simply because they have been scheduled during the legal vacation.
According to the Chief Justice, a judge who is sitting and ready to hear a case cannot be prevented from doing so purely because counsel has made personal arrangements during the vacation period.
Speaking at the 2nd Quadrennial Delegates Congress of the Senior Staff Association of the Judicial Service of Ghana in Sunyani in the Bono Region, the Chief Justice stated, “You cannot say that there is legal vacation, so a judge who is actually sitting and ready to do your case cannot do it. No, that’s not it”.
“To write to the Chief Justice to say that the cases should not be adjourned to the vacation, so I am not coming, I have already made arrangements outside, so I am not coming.
“You are a lawyer; you have your clients. If your clients decide to give you leave, well, go on leave, but you cannot say that there is a legal vacation and the judge who is actually sitting cannot do your case. No, that is not it,” he stated.
“No, adjournments are not at the instance of the Chief Justice. Adjournment is a judicial act. This is something that is so basic,” he said.
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COURT UPDATE
— Austine (@obiMpenaAustine) August 14, 2026
MP, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah goes to the Supreme Court asking the court to declare the action of the Chief Justice to issue a warrant for some Judges to sit during legal vacation as null and void pic.twitter.com/pfmcJhQPbC
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