The Supreme Court has struck out suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo’s supplementary affidavit in support of her injunction application filed against her removal from office.
The court held that the affidavit filed by lawyers of Torkornoo violated article 146(8) of the 1992 constitution.
Justice Torkornoo on May 26 filed the affidavit in support of her interlocutory injunction against the committee probing three petitions for her removal.
In the affidavit, she claimed among others that her rights are being abused by members of the committee.
“That I respectfully seek leave of this Honourable Court to bring to the Court’s attention various developments since the filing of the present application which evidence a complete desecration of my basic constitutional rights to a fair trial, violation of my dignity and subjection to inhuman and degrading treatment, of a kind not meted out to even accused persons on trial for treason and other offences against the State,” Mrs Torkornoo wrote.
Justice Torkornoo among other things claimed in her affidavit that the denial of access into the hearing room for her husband and children, searches on her body, denial of access to telephones and laptops for herself and lawyers (even though counsel for petitioners have access to their phones and laptops) and the conduct of the hearing itself in a high security zone at the premises of the Osu Castle show a deliberate effort to subject her to mental torture.
However, in court on Wednesday, May 28, 2025 Deputy Attorney-General, Justice Srem Sai argued that those depositions contained in the supplementary affidavit were entirely covered under article 14(6)8 and that they should be in-camera.
The five member panel upheld that the content of the affidavit were matters before the Committee and needed to be protected by Article 146(8) and should be held in-camera
The court indicated that it was possible for the Attorney-General to prosecute his case based on the main affidavit without the addition of the supplementary affidavit.
