4 Cases adjourned indefinitely
The Supreme Court has indefinitely adjourned four cases challenging the removal process of Justice Gertrude Torkornoo to allow the parties to file joint memoranda of issues.
A fifth case, filed by one Ebenezer Osei-Owusu, has been struck out for failure to comply with the rules.
The adjournments, which were announced yesterday, were ordered when the court indicated that the parties had not filed the memoranda of issues required to guide the hearing of the matters.
However, the fifth case was dismissed after the plaintiff, Mr Osei-Owusu, failed to file a statement of case within the time required by the rules, leading the court to strike out the writ.
One of the writs in the four other cases was filed by Justice Torkornoo herself, while the others were filed by the Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah; a private citizen, Theodore Kofi Attah-Quartey; and the Centre for Citizenship, Constitutional and Electoral Systems (CENCES).
Background
The cases arose from separate constitutional actions filed at the Supreme Court following the commencement of proceedings under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution for the possible removal of Justice Gertrude Torkornoo as Chief Justice.
The plaintiffs were seeking various reliefs in respect of the procedure adopted by the President and the Council of State in setting up a committee to inquire into petitions against the then Chief Justice.
The court has, in earlier sittings, directed the parties to file memoranda of issues to define the questions of law to be determined before the substantive hearing could begin.
Facts
In one of the cases, Vincent Ekow Assafuah v Attorney-General, the court said the plaintiff had filed his memorandum of issues on June 18, 2025, but that the Attorney-General’s Office had not filed its own.
When the Deputy Attorney-General applied to file a separate memorandum, the court directed the defendant to file within two weeks, after which the case was to take its normal course.
In another case, Gertrude Torkornoo v Attorney-General, the plaintiff was absent, but the Deputy Attorney-General appeared for the office.
The panel, made up of Justices Issifu Tanko Amadu, Yonny Kulendi, Henry Anthony Kwofie, Kofi Dzamefe, Dennis Adjei, Janapare Kwodwo-Bartels and Hafisata Amaleboba, observed that no memorandum of issues had been filed by either party.
Justice Tanko said the court could not create an exception to the rules by allowing the parties to file separate memoranda as a first option.
The court, therefore, directed the parties to file a joint memorandum of issues, failing which they might file separate memoranda two weeks from the date of the order.
The case was accordingly adjourned sine die.
The three other related cases were also adjourned indefinitely on similar grounds to allow the parties to comply with the directive to file joint memoranda of issues.
