I’m not giving up – Suspended Chief Justice

Suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo says she is determined to use all legal and leadership means available to demand justice in the process being used to remove her from office.

She said she had encountered “a model of injustice” she never imagined possible until going through the circumstances of her removal.

“Let me assure everybody that I do not seek to cling to a title or position…I consider it my onerous duty and obligation to speak up concerning the administration of justice in the country,” she stated.

At a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, Chief Justice Torkornoo, now suspended, said resigning or retiring during Article 146 proceedings was not an option available to a judge or public official.

She explained that no one had the authority to walk away from a process started by the State.

“Judgement can be entered against you because you failed to defend yourself, and a judge who resigns or retires would still lose all entitlements because they failed to defend the claims and resigned or retired while proceedings were going on,” she explained.

“Therefore, if false claims are made against you, a Judge or Commissioner or other public office holder subject to Article 146 proceedings, just to achieve a political agenda, the solution cannot be to resign or voluntarily retire out of frustration, pressure or fear.”

She said she would not “turn a tail and run when she knew the implications of not defending false and unwarranted charges.”

“If I resign under these circumstances, I will be saying that this flawed, unknown and opaque process is acceptable. It is not.”

She said her request for the proceedings of the committee set up by the President to be made public was denied.

“I asked for a public hearing because I know the secrecy of the proceedings for removing Judges was not created in the Constitution to be used as a cover-up for any agenda.”

“I have decided to make this statement because the violations have not stopped but have escalated beyond anything I could imagine as possible in justice delivery,” she said.

Chief Justice Torkornoo also said she had received threats suggesting she would suffer consequences if she failed to resign or retire.

She cited the committee’s refusal to recognise her counsel on the first day, failure to state which allegations formed the basis of a prima facie case, and refusal to allow two petitioners, Mr Daniel Ofori and Shinning Stars, to testify for cross-examination.

She said Article 146 had not been followed according to the legal rules for hearings and trials.

Justice Torkornoo stated that the three petitions before the committee were either lies or based on wrong opinions about how work is done in the Judicial Service.

In response to Mr Daniel Ofori’s allegation about her travels, she admitted receiving $14,000 but said she spent $4,400 and returned $9,600.

On the petition by Mr Ayamga Akolgo, she said his own exhibits showing an arrest after a court ruling disproved his claims.

Regarding Shinning Stars, she said checks showed the group was not even registered.

She said she and her lawyers were heading back to the High Court, having filed applications for judicial review to declare the committee’s proceedings void.

“The clear danger is that in light of flagrant violation of CI 47, the very rules the Committee claims to be using, and the darkness of the current proceeding being held in camera, my lawyers and I can come to the end of proceedings; the evidence will show that every allegation in the petitions that were given to me by the President on March 27, 2025 is unfounded and untrue,” Justice Torkornoo said.