Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a second legal challenge seeking to overturn the suspension of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo, reinforcing the legality of the executive’s ongoing process to consider her removal from office.
In a 4–1 majority ruling, the nation’s highest court deemed the application brought by private citizen Theodore Kofi Atta-Quartey “unmeritorious.” Mr. Atta-Quartey had asked the court to halt the proceedings of a committee of inquiry set up under Article 146 of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution and to nullify the President’s authority to suspend the Chief Justice without a formal constitutional instrument.
This latest ruling mirrors an earlier decision issued the same day, in which the Court, by a similar 4–1 vote, dismissed a suit filed by the Centre for Citizenship, Constitutional and Electoral Systems (CenCES). The civic group had challenged President John Mahama’s April 22 suspension of the Chief Justice and the establishment of the inquiry committee. In both cases, Justice Yaw Asare Darko stood as the sole dissenter.
The five-member panel included Justices Paul Baffoe-Bonnie (presiding), Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu, Yonny Kulendi, Henry Anthony Kwofie, and Justice Darko.
Mr. Atta-Quartey’s application, filed on May 20, sought an interlocutory injunction on the committee’s work pending a full hearing. Among his five key reliefs, he requested that the Supreme Court declare unconstitutional the President’s discretion in making a prima facie determination on the Chief Justice’s removal without a publicly codified legal framework.
He further argued that the advisory role of the Council of State, the operations of the inquiry committee, and the President’s warrant of suspension lacked the procedural transparency required under Articles 23, 146(6), 296, and 11(7) of the Constitution.
The Court, however, sided with the executive. The decision paves the way for the committee of inquiry to continue its work, which stems from three petitions seeking Justice Torkonoo’s removal. Her suspension was publicly announced in April by Government Communications Minister Felix Kwakye Ofosu.
Despite criticism from civil society groups and legal activists, the Supreme Court’s latest rulings solidify the President’s constitutional authority to initiate judicial accountability processes—though questions linger over the need for greater procedural codification in the removal of high-ranking judicial officers.
Source:TheDotNews