Former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo will be challenging her removal in court, her legal team has disclosed.
According to her lead counsel, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, his client’s removal was unfair and hence would be contested, citinewsroom.com reports.
The former Attorney-General indicated that his client deserves an opportunity to be heard and to clear her name, adding that a suit would be filed to offer her the opportunity to do so.
Read full details of CJ Torkornoo’s response to 3 petitions for her removal
“This is an option we are looking at to get the records straight. When Dr Danquah went to court to talk about Re Akoto that there was an abuse of a fundamental human right, people did not take him seriously.
“But today, people are praising him for having fought that good fight. So, we will go to court at the right time,” he is quoted to have said.
About Chief Justice Torkornoo’s removal:
President John Dramani Mahama, in accordance with Article 146(9) of the 1992 Constitution, removed Justice Gertrude Torkornoo from office on September 1, 2025.
The decision follows the receipt of the report of the Committee of Inquiry established under Article 146(6) of the Constitution to investigate a petition submitted by a Ghanaian citizen, Daniel Ofori, calling for the removal of the Chief Justice.
The letter informing Justice Torkornoo of her removal, which The Law Platform shared on social media on September 3, 2025, quoted portions of the report by the five-member committee set up by President John Dramani Mahama under the 1992 Constitution.
The committee, led by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang, recommended that Justice Torkornoo should be removed.
Among the reasons why the committee found her guilty are avoidable and reckless dissipation of public funds in her travel with her husband to Tanzania on one occasion, and with her daughter to the United States of America on another occasion.
The committee also found her guilty of unjustifiably breaching “the provisions in Article 296(a) and (b) of the 1992 Constitution” in transferring a judge.
“[1.9]. In the opinion of the committee, the travel expenses which the Chief Justice heaped on the Judicial Service when she travelled on holidays in September 2023, first to Tanzania with her husband and second, to the United States of America with her daughter, together with the payment of per diem to the spouse and daughter of the Chief Justice, constitute unlawful expenditure of public funds. It cannot be justified in law or policy. Those acts constitute avoidable and reckless dissipation of public funds and, in the view of the committee, having been occasioned by the overall head of the Judiciary and the Judicial Service, whose duty it is to guard public resources allocated by the Government, fall within the spectrum of stated misbehaviour.
“[3.4.] The committee states without fear or favour that the Chief Justice unjustifiably breached the provisions in Article 296(a) and (b) of the Constitution, 1992, in the way and manner that she transferred Mr Baiden. Her conduct amounted to misbehaviour,” parts of the letter read.
The committee said in the letter that the actions of Justice Torkornoo “fall within the meaning and categories of stated misbehaviour as provided under Article 146(1) of the Constitution, 1992.”
It went on to state that “[14.1]. In view of the findings of the Committee in paragraphs 1.9, 3.4, 6.7, 7.5, and 9.5 above, the Committee recommends to the President in accordance with Article 146(7) of the Constitution, that Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey-Torkornoo ought to be REMOVED from office.”
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