Legal practitioner, Martin Luther Kpebu, has said he is not surprised the ECOWAS Commission Court upheld the removal of former Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo from office.
He says the issue that formed the basis of the petition –expending GH¢337,470 and $44,000 on her family from the public purse –was something he didn’t anticipate any “reasonable committee” overlooking.
He says although he is surprised over some of the dismissals on the smaller scale, the entire outcome from the court did not come as a surprise to him on the broader scale.
His comments come on the back of the dismissal of all reliefs sought by the former Chief Justice, Torkornoo, at the ECOWAS Commission Court.
Speaking on Ghana Tonight on TV3 on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, Mr. Kpebu said “on the larger part I’m not surprised, but there is a bit of a surprise too, on the smaller scale.”
According to him, “what I’m not surprised about is the removal from office”, indicating “it was almost clear” that the court was going to uphold the committee’s recommendation implemented by the President.
Mr. Kpebu explained that although the amount involved may seem small for a Chief Justice’s office, once it is public funds, it is still a crime even if the amount involved is just a cedi.
“It was always clear that once it is public funds, even if it is GH¢1, you won’t find a reasonable committee saying GH¢1 is too small [because] a Chief Justice’s [office] is a big office, so because of that, 300 and something thousand is no money,” he stated.
He continued that although the stated amount may not be substantial to a section of the population based on their status, when it comes to such matters, “we don’t use the upper classes to judge. What we judge is that, it’s public funds.”
The Lawyer was confident many Ghanaians cannot earn one-third of the said amount the entire year, which highlights the enormity of the amount unlawfully expended by Madam Torkornoo on her family.
“There are millions of our citizens who don’t earn GHC100,000 annually,” Martin Kpebu argued.
Background
The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, dismissed all seven claims filed by former Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, against the Republic of Ghana. This was announced by Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Justice Edem Srem-Sai.
The Court had previously dealt with preliminary objections and procedural applications in the case, which stemmed from the former Chief Justice’s challenge to her suspension and removal from office, which she alleges violated her rights under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Dr Srem-Sai, in a Facebook post on Wednesday, June 24, disclosed that the regional court also declined to award the US$10 million in damages sought by the former Chief Justice. According to him, the court found no basis for compensation after concluding that Ghana had not infringed any of the rights cited in the application.
Quoting the court’s decision, the Deputy Attorney-General stated that, “in light of the Court’s conclusions that Ghana has not violated any of the Applicant’s rights under the African Charter as alleged, the Court makes no decision on reparations.”
ECOWAS Court dismisses Torkornoo’s application challenging her removal as Ghana’s Chief Justice
