Former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has filed a fresh suit at the Accra High Court to halt the vetting and appointment of Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie as Chief Justice.
In a motion for judicial review, Justice Torkornoo is seeking “an order prohibiting the consideration and appointment of a new substantive Chief Justice of Ghana.”
She is also requesting an order of certiorari to quash the proceedings of May 15, 2025, and the outcomes of the Article 146 process initiated to consider petitions for her removal.
Justice Torkornoo further seeks to nullify all three grounds cited by the Pwamang Committee for recommending her dismissal, as well as the Presidential Warrant dated September 1, 2025, which removed her from office as Chief Justice and Justice of the Supreme Court.
Additionally, she is asking the court to prohibit the denial or withdrawal of her salary, benefits, courtesies, and other entitlements due prior to the issuance of the removal warrant.
She contends that the Committee’s findings and recommendations under Article 146 (6) and (7) of the 1992 Constitution failed to meet the threshold of “stated misconduct, incompetence or infirmity ground of inability to perform the function of office” as required by Article 146 (1).
Justice Torkornoo argues that the Committee blatantly violated relevant provision of the 1992 Constitution, adding that its first finding and recommendation was “false, misleading, irrational, unreasonable and illegal on account of purporting to find ‘misconduct.’”
She maintains that the Committee’s actions constituted an abuse of power, breached her legitimate expectations under her appointment terms, the Judicial Council’s Travel Policy for Chief Justices and Superior Court Judges, and long-standing Judicial Service practices.
She further claims the proceedings violated Articles 23, 296, 146 (3), 146 (7), 280 (1), and 295 of the Constitution, describing them as “illegal, void and of no effect having conducted in breach of the rules of natural justice and as adversarial proceedings under C.I. 47 instead of an impartial inquiry.”
Justice Torkornoo was removed from office on September 1, 2025, by President John Dramani Mahama following the submission of the Committee’s report, which cited misconduct and stated misbehaviour.
President Mahama subsequently nominated Justice Baffoe-Bonnie as Chief Justice, who is currently awaiting vetting and parliamentary approval.
GNA