Deputy Director General of the Narcotics Control Commission, Alexander Twum Barima, has suggested that, going forward, a female security officer should be allowed to search the suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, when she appears before the committee probing petitions for her removal.
Mrs Gertrude Torkornoo filed an application in support of her interlocutory injunction against the composition of the committee hearing the petitions. One of her concerns was that her rights are violated at the committee hearing, because among others, she is searched by a man.
According to Mr Twum Barim a, that concern is the only one he considers worthy of consideration among the lot that Mrs Torkornoo’s lawyers complained about.
“I will urge the security officers to allow a woman to search a woman and a man to search a man,” he said.
He accused the lawyers of the suspended Chief Justice of playing on the emotional keyboard rather than being legal.
“Which of the rights of CJ are being violated? He should mention them. No right is absolute. In this case, I am yet to see the right that has been tampered with,” he questioned on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, May 31.
Twum Barima added, “They are becoming more emotional than legal…which part of the law permits her husband and children in the room?”
Background
The Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed an injunction application filed by suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, which sought to halt the proceedings of a presidential committee investigating petitions for her removal from office.
Justice Torkornoo filed the application on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, asking the apex court to issue an interlocutory injunction against the six-member committee established by President John Mahama.
The application aimed to restrain the committee from carrying out any inquiry related to the petitions until the substantive case is resolved.
According to court documents, the Chief Justice sought an order specifically barring Justices Gabriel Scott Pwamang and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu—as well as other committee members including Daniel Yao Domelevo, Major Flora Bazuwaaruah Dalugo, and Professor James Sefah Dziasah—from participating in the investigation.
She also requested that Justices Pwamang and Adibu-Asiedu be disqualified from presiding over or contributing to the committee’s deliberations.
However, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling on Wednesday, May 28, dismissed the application. The full written ruling is expected to be made available on June 12, 2025.
This decision marks a significant development in the ongoing legal battle surrounding the suspension of Justice Torkornoo and the constitutional questions it raises.
