Ghana’s President John Mahama has removed Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo after an inquiry recommended her dismissal.
She had been on suspension since April after three petitions accused her of misconduct. A five-member committee investigated the petitions and produced its report.
The presidency said the panel found that “grounds of stated misbehaviour… had been established and recommended her removal from office.”
Torkornoo dismissed the accusations as politically driven. She told the panel that the allegations were “unfounded and motivated by partisanship.”
The inquiry reviewed more than 10,000 pages of evidence. It heard from 13 witnesses for petitioner Daniel Ofori. The Chief Justice herself testified and called 12 witnesses, including legal experts.
Other petitions against her are still ongoing. But Mahama said he was constitutionally bound to act on the first committee’s findings.
Political Tensions Around Her Removal
Torkornoo is the first sitting Chief Justice in Ghana to be dismissed. She was nominated in 2023 by former President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Her suspension in April drew condemnation from the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP). The party described it as a “political witch hunt” and warned that it threatened judicial independence.
Several court cases attempted to stop her removal but failed. This marks the second time she faced removal petitions. Under Akufo-Addo, a previous petition was rejected for “several deficiencies.”
Reactions to the president’s decision have been heated. A former deputy attorney general, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, warned that the move endangered Ghana’s judiciary.
“The petition that I read showed no proper grounds to warrant her removal,” he said “If the threshold is what we read in the petition, then I fear for the future of the judiciary.”
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