It is in this context that the government proposal to amend Article 107(5) of the Constitution to raise the mandatory retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67 and that of Court of Appeal judges from 63 to 65 has attracted particular attention. The government has also approved amendments to the legislation governing the other courts to increase their retirement ages by two years. Judicial independence depends not only on the conduct of individual judges but also on public confidence that the conditions under which judges serve are not being altered for political purposes.