Justice Senyo Dzamefe, the Supreme Court nominee has clearly stated the Judiciary is not independent financially.
The Supreme Court nominee asserted that the Judiciary is independent but is dependent on the executive for its funding.
He asserted that true independence cannot be achieved if one arm of government must rely on another for its basic operational resources.
Speaking during his vetting on Monday, 16 June, Justice Senyo Dzamefe stated, “When it comes to the judiciary, yes, we are independent, administratively, yes, we are independent, but financially we are not because you give us money—when the budget comes to you, you give what you think we need”.
“A lot has to be done to ensure the judiciary does its work without any hindrances”, he added.
Justice Senyo Dzamefe further made it clear he does not support calls to review the retirement age.
He noted that the current retirement age of 70 should be maintained.
He added, “I will not agree with sending the retirement ages of Supreme Court or Appeal Court judges to 75. No. The retirement age as at now is 70. Superior court judges retire on their salaries.”
“Formally, you need to be advanced in age to get the experience and the exposure so that when you give judgment, it is respected. It is a solid judgment because you’re adding personal experience to the legal knowledge you have,” he said.
He added, “But of late, technology has made it such that what you needed 60 or 70 years to know, technology can make it available to you very early,” he explained. “So personally, my opinion is to keep it at 70. That is my opinion, not 75.”
“I want judges to retire very healthy, and then we can use them for other purposes, like assessors. They can help the judiciary or the service in other forms, like helping to filter out cases”.
“So I think we maintain it at the 70 as at now. That is my opinion,” he said.
