Government efforts to remove Chief Justice (CJ) Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo from office have been thwarted by a lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court to stop the process’s advancement.
Old Tafo MP Vincent Ekow Assafuah has filed a writ at the Supreme Court, requesting that the highest court rule that the consultation procedures that the President initiated are null and void and have no legal significance.
The MP is asking the court to declare that before sending a petition for the Chief Justice’s removal to the Council of State or starting the consultation process with the Council of State, the President must inform the Chief Justice about the petition and get her input and responses to its contents.
Additionally, he is requesting a declaration that the President has violated the Constitution and the security of tenure of the Chief Justice, who is a Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, as guaranteed by Article 146(1) of the Constitution, by failing to notify the Chief Justice and solicit his or her opinions and responses to a petition for her removal prior to initiating the consultation process with the Council of State.
The Old Tafo MP is also pleading with the Supreme Court to rule that the President’s failure to alert the Chief Justice and get her input on the petition in advance amounts to an unwarranted interference with the Judiciary’s independence, a breach of the fundamental right to a fair trial, and nullifies the consultation process.
Following the filing of three petitions calling for Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo’s dismissal, President John Mahama has begun discussions with the Council of State.
In accordance with Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution, which describes the procedure for dismissing a Chief Justice, the President had sent the petitions to the Council of State, according to a statement released by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Minister for Government Communications.
The fact that the CJ had not even received a copy of the petition or notice of it at the time it was made public suggests that the administration is trying to circumvent the law in order to remove the CJ at any cost for non-legal grounds.
Even before he was elected president, the president was determined to remove the Chief Justice from office.
He launched a vicious attack on the judiciary in 2022 and demanded the ouster of the Chief Justice, saying that in order for the public to trust the system again, a new Chief Justice would need to take the lead in restoring what he described as the “badly dented image” of Ghana’s court.
Source: newsthemegh.com