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Claim: Joyce Bawah Mogtari, a spokesperson for Ghana’s ex-President John Mahama, claims Nigeria has fewer Court of Appeal judges than Ghana despite its geographical size and population.
Verdict: This is false. DUBAWA’s checks have shown that Nigeria currently has a total of 67 Court of Appeal judges compared to 33 judges in Ghana. Although Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has elevated 20 people, including High Court judges, to the country’s second highest court in April 2024, the list would have to be approved by the Judicial Council. If approved, Ghana will have a total of 53 Court of Appeal justices.
Full Text
Joyce Bawah Mogtari, a spokesperson for Ghana’s ex-President John Mahama, has alleged that Nigeria has fewer Court of Appeal judges than Ghana despite its geographical size and population.
Writing on X (formerly Twitter) on Apr. 7, 2024, the private legal practitioner said:
“Wait a minute. How can any individual leader, as in Akufo-Addo, appoint twenty-one (21) additional Court of Appeal judges, bringing the total number of Court of Appeal Judges in Ghana to fifty-one (51)
“Most of these judges may have absolutely nothing to do. This constitutes an abuse of presidential power and discretion. Even in neighbouring Nigeria, they have thirty-five (35) Court of Appeal Judges, five judges for each district. How can Ghana have fifty-one (51) Court of Appeal justices?”
The gender and social activist was reacting to the elevation of 20 persons, including 12 Justices of the High Court and eight reputable lawyers by President Nana Akufo-Addo in Apr. 2024.
The appointment made by the President would have to receive the approval of the Judicial Council and this would see the number of Justices of the second highest court of Ghana rise from 33 to 53.
DUBAWA decided to investigate the claim made by the lawyer as part of its campaign against misinformation and disinformation in Ghana.
Verification
First, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo did not appoint 21 persons to the country’s Court of Appeal in April 2024, as alleged by Joyce Bawah Mogtari, the Spokesperson of ex-President John Mahama.
Multiple reports here, here, and here point to the president’s appointment of 20 persons, made up of 12 Justices of the High Court and eight lawyers.
Accra-based Adom FM reported on Apr. 8, 2024, that:
“The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has, in exercising the powers granted by the 1992 Constitution, submitted the names of 12 Justices of the High Court and eight reputable lawyers to the Judicial Council for appointment to the Court of Appeal.
“Among these notable lawyers are Yaw Oppong, the Director of the Ghana School of Law, and Charles Zwennes from the esteemed Gaisie, Zwennes and Hughes law firm. Also included is Dr. Poku-Adusei, a legal academic who has dedicated a significant portion of his teaching career to the University of Ghana Law Faculty. He is also Director of Legal Affairs of the National Communications Authority (NCA),” the report continued.
Also, Accra-based Starr FM reported on Apr. 9, 2024, that:
“Justice Aboagye Tandoh, the third and current judge hearing the six-year-old GHS 217 million ‘causing financial loss’ case against former Ghana Cocoa Board Chief Executive Stephen Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo, has been nominated by President Nana Akufo-Addo among 19 others for the bench of the Court of Appeal.”
Further checks by DUBAWA showed that Ghana presently has 33 Justices of the Court of Appeal. Therefore, when the appointment of the 20 persons recently made by the President is approved by the country’s Judicial Council, the total number of Justices of the second highest court would rise from 33 to 53 Justices and not 51 Justices as alleged, data available at the Judiciary has shown.
Also, the claim that Nigeria has 35 Court of Appeal judges, five judges for each district, is not accurate, as DUBAWA’s checks have revealed.
Data available at Nigeria’s Court of Appeal has shown that there are currently a total of 67 Justices of Appeal across the West African country. These Justices are posted to the 20 divisions of the court spread across the six Geopolitical zones of Nigeria, namely Lagos, Kaduna, Ibadan, Enugu, Jos, Port-Harcourt, Calabar, Ilorin and Abuja, among others, Nigeria’s Court of Appeal has said.
DUBAWA later shared the findings of its investigations with Joyce Bawah Mogtari, but she insisted her claim was right. She alleged,
“Each district in Nigeria has five Court of Appeal judges. Coupled with the fact that they have a federal system and a population twice and more.”
Conclusion
A search by DUBAWA showed that Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo appointed 20 persons to the country’s Court of Appeal in April 2024, and not 21 as alleged by Joyce. Also, when approved by the Judicial Council, the list of appointees will bring the number of Justices of the second highest court to 53, not 51 Justices, as Joyce further claimed.
