“Almost a year is too long, President is willfully failing to constitute Council of State” - Lawyer Owusu Asare
A lawyer is challenging President John Dramani Mahama in the Supreme Court for failing to appoint a replacement to the Council of State for nearly a year. The legal action argues that the vacancy violates the constitution and deprives the council of necessary legal expertise.
Why it matters
The case addresses the limits of executive power and the importance of maintaining constitutionally mandated advisory bodies.
Lawyer for Samuel Bryan Buabeng, Jonathan Owusu Asare, has argued that President John Dramani Mahama ’s failure to replace former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo on the Council of State amounts to a breach of the 1992 Constitution.
According to him, the prolonged vacancy, following Justice Akuffo’s resignation from the Council of State in September 2025, has left the constitutional body improperly constituted.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (8 September), Owusu Asare said his client, acting as a private citizen, was compelled to seek the intervention of the Supreme Court because the President had failed to fill the vacancy within a reasonable period.
“The space between that time and now suggests that there’s no reasonable grounds for the President to still keep this void in place,” he said.
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