Suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo has taken a bold stand against the ongoing removal proceedings against her, calling the process politically motivated and devoid of any serious national interest.
Addressing the press today, the embattled judicial head expressed profound concern over what she described as escalating violations of her rights and a troubling distortion of constitutional intent.
“The Constitution expects that the only reasons for removing the Chief Justice and public officials subject to Article 146 will be matters that make them unable or unfit to perform the functions of their office, and matters that affect sensitive national interests, public order or safety,” she stated.
Justice Torkornoo argued that the petitions filed against her do not meet this threshold, insisting that none of the allegations involved matters of sufficient weight or national security relevance.
“In my case, nothing in the petitions I had received reflected weighty issues of sensitivity or national interest.
Indeed, all the matters in the petitions had been discussed extensively in the media before the hearings began,” she explained.
The Chief Justice further revealed that she had filed a supplementary affidavit with the Supreme Court, detailing human rights violations she claims to have suffered during the hearing process. However, that effort was dismissed.
“I swore to a supplementary affidavit alerting the Supreme Court of human rights violations I had already started encountering at the hearing,” she said.
“However, the members of the Supreme Court that heard the application refused my application for an open hearing, and the supplementary affidavit… was also struck out of records on the request of the Attorney-General.”
Her frustration was palpable as she decried the continued escalation of what she views as a deeply flawed and unconstitutional process that threatens the very integrity of Ghana’s justice system.
“I have decided to make this statement today because the violations have not stopped, but have escalated beyond anything I could have imagined as possible in justice delivery,” she said.
Justice Torkornoo’s remarks are the latest in a series of developments surrounding her unprecedented suspension and possible removal — a first in Ghana’s judicial history.
