Elvis Darko, Managing Editor of the Newscenta Newspaper, has raised a critical and timely question that is stirring debate across Ghana’s legal and political spheres: Should Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo be removed from office?
His remarks follow the recent legal move by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, who has filed an interlocutory injunction at the Supreme Court. The motion seeks to halt the operations of a five-member inquiry committee appointed by President John Mahama to investigate her removal.
This committee was formed to examine three separate impeachment petitions submitted against the suspended Chief Justice.
According to court documents filed on May 21, 2025, and obtained by 3News, Justice Torkornoo is appealing to the Supreme Court to stop the committee from proceeding further with any actions related to the prima facie case previously established against her.
In addition to halting the committee’s activities, the Chief Justice is requesting an order that bars Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang and Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu from participating in the inquiry proceedings. She is also urging the court to quash her suspension, which President Mahama imposed under Article 146(10) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
Speaking on the ongoing developments, Elvis Darko stated, “I’m not a lawyer. One group of lawyers, the Council of State, and the President say there’s no prima facie. Another group of Council of State members, lawyers, and the President say there’s a prima facie.”
He continued, “The ordinary Ghanaian who is being given this information, how do you expect a person to see the entire process? But if this was written in black and white, that when you say you have found a premier fascist or not, publish the report for the public to know, then there will be clarity. So right now that the current government and the President have yet to publish the establishment, the question is, who do we believe?”
Elvis Darko further noted, “So for me, people who are saying, why should the CJ go to the Supreme Court or not, I don’t see in any place in our country that a CJ cannot challenge an issue in the Supreme Court.”
President Mahama suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo on April 22, 2025, after a prima facie case was determined.
This action was taken under Article 146(6) of the Ghanaian Constitution, following which the President, in consultation with the Council of State, appointed a five-member committee to investigate the petitions for her removal from office.
As Ghana watches closely, the legal and constitutional battle involving the Chief Justice continues to raise pressing questions about transparency, due process, and the separation of powers.
