Supreme Court nominee Anthony Forson Jnr has opposed calls for a cap on the number of Justices who can serve on Ghana’s apex court, arguing that the court’s broad constitutional mandate and workload make a fixed limit impractical.
Appearing before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Thursday, August 27, 2026, Mr Forson said the current circumstances do not support restricting the size of the Supreme Court.
According to him, the Supreme Court has been assigned extensive jurisdictions, making it necessary to maintain sufficient judicial capacity to deal with its workload.
“I’m one of the advocates of no capping, because of my experience and the kind of seminars that I have been to,” he said.
Mr Forson Jnr. cited discussions held during a constitutional review process in Parliament, where Justice Jones Victor Mawulorm Dotse, then participating in discussions on the judiciary, had raised concerns about limiting the number of Supreme Court Justices given the court’s extensive jurisdiction.
He said the argument was that a cap could create difficulties unless Ghana first revisited the range of matters the Constitution assigns to the Supreme Court.
“Because of the jurisdictions which have been given to the Supreme Court, which is so wide, capping will bring a problem,” he stated.
He therefore suggested that any discussion about limiting the number of Supreme Court Justices should be preceded by a broader review of the court’s constitutional jurisdiction.
“Unless, as a country, we decide to reduce the jurisdictions which have been allocated to the Supreme Court for now, there should be no cap,” he said.
Mr Forson further pointed to the justification given for increasing the membership of the Supreme Court, saying the existing composition had struggled to manage the court’s workload.
He argued that the expansion was therefore necessary to ensure the apex court could deal with cases before it without compromising efficiency.
“So for now, I disagree that there should be a cap,” he noted.
