Chief Justice given 10 days to respond to removal petitions - Presidency warns against leaks
President John Mahama has directed the Chief Justice to submit a preliminary response to removal petitions against her within 10 days.
The President also condemned the unauthorised leakage of confidential documents related to the case.
The directive follows the submission of three separate petitions — two dated February 14, 2025, and a third dated March 17, 2025 — calling for the Chief Justice's removal from office.
In an official communication signed by Secretary to the President, Dr Callistus Mahama, the Presidency outlined the next steps in the unprecedented constitutional process.
"His Excellency wishes to assure the Chief Justice that due process will be followed in handling this matter," the communication stated, emphasising that the leader of the Judiciary would receive "a full and fair opportunity to be heard."
The letter pointed out the delicate nature of the proceedings, noting that the President had already consulted with the Council of State, chaired by a former Speaker Parliament, Doe Adjaho, as required by Article 146(6) of Ghana's 1992 Constitution.
This consultation occurred on March 24, 2025 with the Council providing its response just three days later on March 27, 2025.
Disappointment
However, the proceedings have been marred by controversy following the unauthorised circulation of confidential documents.
The Presidency expressed profound disappointment that the Chief Justice's March 27, 2025 correspondence had appeared on social media platforms before official channels could properly process it.
"We are constrained to mark each page of the attachments as 'restricted'," President Mahama’s Secretary stated, referencing the Supreme Court's precedent in the Frank Agyei Twum v. Attorney-General case which established strict confidentiality for such proceedings.
Background
Last Tuesday, the Spokesperson to the President and Minister of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, released a statement announcing that President Mahama had forwarded to the Council of State for consultation on three petitions seeking the removal of Justice Torkornoo.
The statement explained that the move by President Mahama was in line with Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution.
Article 146 governs the processes for the removal of Justices of the Superior Courts, the Chief Justice and persons whose offices are analogous with Justices of the Superior Courts such as the Chairperson and Deputy Chairpersons of the Electoral Commission and Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice.
The Chief Justice last Thursday wrote to the President requesting to be given copies of the petition against her submitted to the President before conclusions of consultations between the President and the Council of State under Article 146(6).
Justice Torkornoo based her request on the common law principle of natural justice, (audi alteram partem) where a defendant must be given hearing before proceeding to arrive at a decision.
“Respectfully, as you are no doubt aware, it is the most fundamental precept of the common law and our constitutional dispensation ingrained into the justice delivery process, that no consideration that affects the rights of a defendant can be made unless the defendant has been given notice of the contents of a charge, and an opportunity to respond to them.”
“Further, no defendant can be subjected to a trial unless the preliminary process of receiving their response has been adhered to,” Justice Torkornoo wrote in her request, which circulated on social media.
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, has filed a lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to declare as null and void the ongoing process which could lead to the removal of the Chief Justice, Justice Getrude Sackey Torkornoo, from office.
The MP, in the writ filed at the apex court yesterday, is asking the Supreme Court to declare as null and void President John Dramani Mahama’s decision to forward the petitions seeking the removal of the Chief Justice to the Council of State for consultation.
The writ was filed against the Attorney-General (A-G) by the lawyer for the MP, Godfred Yeboah Dame, the immediate past A-G.
Counsel for the Old Tafo MP also filed another motion at the same court seeking an interlocutory injunction restraining the President and the Council of State the from proceeding on the consultation processes for the removal of the Chief Justice under Article 146 or in any manner until the hearing and final determination of the instant action.
The application for the interlocutory injunction would be moved on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
