Suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo says she has decided to marshal every effort in law and leadership to demand justice in the process being used to remove her from office.
She said she had been confronted with “a model of injustice” she never would have believed possible, had she not experienced the circumstances surrounding her removal process.
“Let me assure everybody that I do not seek to cling to a title or position… I consider it my onerous duty and obligation to speak up concerning the administration of justice in the country,” she stated.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, Chief Justice Torkornoo, now on suspension, said resigning or retiring while Article 146 proceedings were ongoing was not an option available to any judge or public official.
She maintained that no one had the authority to walk away from proceedings initiated by the state.
“Judgment can be entered against you because you failed to defend yourself, and a judge who resigns or retires would still lose all entitlements because they failed to defend the claims and resigned or retired while proceedings were going on,” she explained.
“Therefore, if false claims are made against you—a judge, commissioner, or other public officeholder subject to Article 146 proceedings—just to achieve a political agenda, the solution cannot be to resign or voluntarily retire out of frustration, pressure, or fear.”
She emphasized that, as Chief Justice, she would not “turn tail and run” when she understood the implications of failing to defend against false and unwarranted charges.
“If I resign under these circumstances, I will be saying that this flawed, unknown, and opaque process is acceptable. It is not.”
She revealed that her request for the proceedings of the committee, set up by the President, to be held publicly was rejected.
“I asked for a public hearing because I know the secrecy of the proceedings for removing judges was not created in the Constitution to be used as a cover-up for any agenda.”
“I have decided to make this statement because the violations have not stopped but have escalated beyond anything I could imagine as possible in justice delivery,” she said.
Justice Torkornoo added that she had received threats warning that if she failed to resign or voluntarily retire, she would suffer harm.
She cited several procedural concerns: the committee’s refusal to recognize her legal counsel on the first day, the failure to specify which allegations a prima facie case had been established against her, and the decision not to allow two of the petitioners—Mr. Daniel Ofori and a group called Shinning Stars—to testify, preventing her from cross-examining them.
She argued that, under Article 146, none of the legal rules and procedures governing trials and hearings had been followed.
Torkornoo said there were three petitions before the committee, and each allegation against her was either false or a misunderstanding of judicial procedures.
Responding to allegations raised by petitioner Daniel Ofori regarding travel claims, she confirmed she was offered $14,000 but spent only $4,400 and returned $9,600.
On the petition by Mr. Ayamga Akolgo, she noted that his supporting exhibits, including claims of being arrested after a court ruling, contradicted his allegations.
As for Shinning Stars, she pointed out that a search revealed the group was not even officially registered.
Justice Torkornoo said she and her lawyers would return to the High Court, having already filed an application for judicial review seeking to declare the proceedings of the committee void.
“The clear danger is that, in light of the flagrant violation of CI 47—the very rules the committee claims to be using—and the darkness of the current proceedings being held in camera, my lawyers and I can come to the end of proceedings, and the evidence will show that every allegation in the petitions that were given to me by the President on March 27, 2025, is unfounded and untrue,” she concluded.
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