GBA President suggests public hearing of petition against Chief Justice
The President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Mrs. Efua Ghartey, has raised the possibility of holding a public hearing in the ongoing proceedings concerning the petition for the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo.
Speaking at the Mid-Year Review Conference of the Ghana Bar Association in Accra on April 26, 2025, Mrs. Ghartey said that although the Constitution provides for proceedings to be held in camera, the current circumstances may warrant a reconsideration.
She noted that in spite of the constitutional provisions that said the proceedings should be held in camera, the current circumstances where the petition and all matters related to it were in the public domain, it may serve the country better if the matter was held in public.
Commenting further on the sidelines of the conference, Mrs. Ghartey explained that the original purpose for in-camera hearings had been undermined in the social media era. She suggested that justice would not only be done but manifestly be said to be done if we as Ghanaians had live televised hearings.
According to her, this approach would rather protect the integrity of the judiciary. She also posed the question of whether the Chief Justice could elect to have a public hearing, arguing that this would amount to waiving the right to an in-camera process, since the constitutional provision aims to protect the individual against whom the petition is made.
The petition for the removal of Chief Justice Torkornoo has sparked intense public interest after the petitions and related documents surfaced online, dominating discussions across media platforms.
Background
President John Dramani Mahama suspended Chief Justice Torkornoo after determining that a prima facie case had been established in three separate petitions seeking her removal for "stated misbehaviour" under Article 146 of the Constitution.
A five-member committee chaired by Supreme Court Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang has been constituted to inquire into the matter. The committee also includes Supreme Court Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, former Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelevo, Major Flora Bazaanura Dalugo of the Ghana Armed Forces, and Professor James Sefah Dzisah of the University of Ghana.
In the interim, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, the senior-most Justice of the Supreme Court, has been appointed as Acting Chief Justice in accordance with Article 144(6) of the Constitution.
