Prez Nominates Four Supreme Court Judges

President John Agyekum Kufuor has nominated four judges to the Supreme Court. The nominations were made by the President on the recommendations of the Council of State and the Judicial Council. The Judges are Mr Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie, Mr Justice Enin Yeboah, Mr Justice Dotse and Ms R.C. Owusu. According to the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes, the President had forwarded their names to the House for vetting and approval. Mr Sekyi Hughes explained that Article 144 (2) of the 1992 Constitution and Standing Order 172 (2) of Parliament enjoined persons nominated by the President to such positions of trust, authority and responsibility to be vetted and endorsed by the House. The Speaker, accordingly, referred the matter to the Appointments Committee of the House, under the chairmanship of the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Freddie Blay, for consideration. He said the curricula vitae of the appointed persons were attached to the letter sent by the Office of the President to the House for the perusal of the committee to enable the members to acquaint themselves with the background of the appointees. In another development, Members of Parliament (MP) have paid glowing tribute to the late Peter Cardinal Poreku Dery, describing him as a person who sacrificed his life for the well-being of the people of Ghana, especially those in the northern belt of the country. The MPs said the late Cardinal Dery was a pioneer in religion, education, health delivery and financial management in the country. They were contributing to a statement made on the floor of the House by the MP for Zebilla, Mr John Ndebugre. According to Mr Ndebugre, the late Cardinal Dery championed and promoted the Credit Union movement throughout Ghana and that after becoming the Bishop of Wa, he managed, in 1960, to convince high-ranking persons in Germany and the Netherlands to provide funds for the institution of a credit union training programme in northern Ghana. He said the credit union idea had since spread from Jirapa to all parts of the country and subsequently improved the lives of millions of people. "Mr Speaker, the late Cardinal was also a crusader in educational development in his days as a priest and later a bishop. His untiring efforts at educational development produced second-cycle schools such as the St Francis Girls' Secondary School at Jirapa, the Nandom Secondary School, among several others, not to talk of many basic schools," he s.aid. Other MPs who paid tribute to the late Cardinal Dery were Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, the MP for Navrongo Central, and Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, the MP for Wa West.