Suspension of Ghana’s chief justice is ‘abuse of power’, says opposition

The opposition deputies in Ghana strongly condemned the commentary of the country’s chief judge, accusing President John Mahama of trying to “mobilize the courts” with judges sympathetic to the ruling party, NDC.

Gertrde Torkornoo was removed from his post on Wednesday – the first time that the chief judge has been suspended in the country’s history.

The action was taken after three sits were offered, which were made allegations against Mrs. Torkornoo.

The content of the general petitions has not been published and Ms. Torkornoo has not yet publicly commented.

Mahahama supporters support this step when he was long awaited to clean the judiciary.

But the opposition was “nothing less than a preventive and judicial court coup, a reckless abuse of the executive authority, and a direct attack on the independence of the judiciary in Ghana,” the deputies said in a statement.

On Tuesday, a statement issued by the presidency said that the chief of judges was asked to step aside so that the allegations filed against them could be investigated.

Since the announcement of the comment, another petition has been presented against Mrs. Torkornoo.

Former Public Prosecutor Godfred Yippha, as to the BBC, said he believed the comment was “a full skill … the biggest attack on [judiciary] In the history of the nation.

Before Mrs. Torkornoo was suspended, the lawyers filed at least a lawsuit that defies the legitimacy of the procedure used by the president.

Under the law, the president should have submitted copies of the petition to the chief of judges before being suspended, which was initially failed to do. However, he later made her available.

The opposition representatives say that, through the suspension of the chief judge before the Supreme Court, he has sentenced these lawsuits, Mahama violated the legal procedures.

But some Ghanaians support the president’s step.

“I think the president protects the judiciary in Ghana from the actions of a person who does not behave in a way that you should keep there … if there is an unpleasant smell in the room that you should let in the fresh air,” Dr. Tony Edo, a former Ghana ambassador to the Netherlands, told the Joy News.

Some accuse the Supreme Court under the leadership of Mrs. Torkornoo by former President Nana Akufo-Eddo and his party in many prominent political issues.

For example, last year, the judges spent that The speaker’s decision to announce four seats in MP vacant was unconstitutional.

Ghana had 15 judges, whose job was to oversee the country’s justice management.

Those who came before Mrs. Torkornoo ended their period by retirement – none of them was suspended or removed permanently.

Judges can only be removed from the office for a few reasons, such as incompetence or misconduct.

TORKORNOO is the third president of Ghana’s judges and was nominated in 2023 by Akovo Ado.

According to Reuters, Mrs. Torkornoo escaped the removal request earlier this year when Akufo-Eddo said that a petition for her refusal had “palaces.”

A committee of five members has now been created to investigate the current allegations against Mrs. Torkornoo.