The Minority in Parliament has described the decision by President John Dramani Mahama to suspend Her Ladyship Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo under the purported authority of Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution as nothing short of a brazen judicial coup.
In a statement issued on April 22, they said the action of President John Mahama is “a reckless abuse of Executive power, and a direct assault on the independence of Ghana’s Judiciary.”
The Minority noted that “This move, taken while legitimate legal challenges are pending before the Supreme Court, reeks of intolerable political vendetta, Judicial intimidation, and a calculated attempt to pack the courts with NDC-sympathetic justices -as openly promised by President Mahama in Akosombo in 2023.
They contended that “It is an unpardonable affront to the rule of law that the President has, in consultation with the Council of State, proceeded to suspend the Chief Justice while the Supreme Court is yet to rule on the constitutionality of the very process being used against her. This is judicial overreach of the highest order, a textbook case of executive interference, and a dangerous precedent reminiscent of the dark days of President Kwame Nkrumah’s removal of Chief Justice Sir Arku Korsah in 1963 for making judicial decisions the President did not like.”
“The Minority in Parliament is absolutely right in condemning this unlawful suspension, and we, as lawmakers committed to justice, constitutionalism, and the sanctity of the judiciary, unequivocally demand the immediate reversal of this unconstitutional act,” they added.
Describing the suspension as politically motivated, the Minority said, ” President Mahama’s actions confirm what many have long suspected – that this is not about accountability, but about raw political control. His public declaration in Akosombo that he intends to, in effect, balance the judiciary by appointing NDC-aligned judges exposes the ulterior motive behind this sudden rush to remove the Chief Justice. This is neither good governance nor credible attempt to “reset” of the judicial – it is tyranny.”
“If the President believes he can strong-arm the judiciary into submission, he must be reminded that Ghana is a constitutional democracy, not a fiefdom. The people of Ghana will not tolerate the subversion of judicial independence for partisan gain,” they stressed.
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