Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has said that the removed Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has every right to demand to know the reason for the establishment of a prima facie case against her, leading to her suspension and subsequent removal from office.
Kpebu makes the point that the failure to give the reasons undermines the process for her removal a bit.
“The fact that the removal is correct does not mean everything is correct. The fact that we support her removal does not mean we support everything willy-nilly. I support the grounds for her removal. The failure to give her reasons for the removal is wrong,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, October 18.
When another lawyer, Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, inquired about how that undermines the process of her removal, Kpebu said, “It undermines the process a bit, but it doesn’t mean she will win.”
“It is not sufficient for her to win the case, but it will come back to haunt us,” Kpebu said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, October 18.
Another legal practitioner, Austin Brako-Powers, said that Former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has every right to raise questions against the procedure adopted by the committee that recommended her removal as Chief Justice.
Brako-Powers made the point that arguments that none can criticise the recommendation of the Article 146 committee are disingenuous
“The argument that nobody can criticise the recommendation of the Article 146 committee, which probed the former CJ removal, is disingenuous,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, October 18.
“She has every legitimate grounds to question the procedure adopted,” he added.
She is also seeking to halt the vetting of the Chief Justice nominee, Paul Baffoe Bonnie.
In the suit, she is seeking “An order of certiorari bringing up into this court for the purpose of being quashed and for quashing, the proceedings of the 15th of May 2025 and the entire proceedings and outcomes of the Article 146 set up to consider petitions to remove the Applicant chaired by Pwamang JSC (“Pwamang Committee”).
An order of certiorari bringing up into this court for the purpose of being quashed and for quashing, each and all of the three reasons/grounds given by the Pwamang Committee for recommending the removal of the Applicant from office as Chief Justice as stated in the letter of the Secretary to the President dated 1st September 2025.
An order of certiorari bringing up into this court for the purpose of being quashed and for quashing the Presidential Warrant dated September 1, 2025 removing Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo from office as Chief Justice and Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ghana.
Madam Gertrude Torkornoo was removed from office by President John Dramani Mahama, a statement issued by the Minister of Government Communications on Monday, September 1, announced.
“President John Dramani Mahama has, in accordance with Article 146(9) of the 1992 Constitution, removed the Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkonoo, from office with immediate effect. This follows receipt of the report of the Committee constituted under Article 146(6) to inquire into a petition submitted by a Ghanaian citizen, Mr Daniel Ofori. After considering the petition and the evidence, the Committee found that the grounds of stated misbehaviour under Article 146(1) had been established and recommended her removal from office. Under Article 146(9), the President is required to act in accordance with the committee’s recommendation,” the statement said.
This was after the president received the report of the Article 146 Committee of Inquiry set up to investigate petitions calling for the removal of Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, following the determination of a prima facie case in three separate petitions that sought the removal of the Chief Justice from office. In line with constitutional requirements, President Mahama constituted a five-member committee to conduct the inquiry.
Justice Torkornoo was earlier suspended on April 22, 2025, following the establishment of a prima facie case against her after the receipt of three separate petitions. Her suspension, carried out in line with Article 146(6) of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, was done in consultation with the Council of State.
Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang, said after presenting the report to the presaisnt that “To the committee, our mandate and remit as set out under Article 146 Clauses (7) and (8) of the Constitution is clear and it is to inquire into the petitions in camera, hear the person against whom the petitions have been brought in her defence by herself or by a lawyer or other expert of her choice and then to make a recommendation to the President.”
