Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has been suspended pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation
Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo has accused the committee investigating petitions against her of subjecting her to mental torture and degrading treatment.
As detailed in a supplementary affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Monday, May 26, 2025, the Chief Justice outlined specific actions by the committee that she claims violate her fundamental rights.
“Other developments, like the denial of access into the hearing room for my husband and children, searches on my body, denial of access to telephones and laptops for myself and my lawyers (even though counsel for petitioners have access to their phones and laptops), and the conduct of the hearing itself in a high-security zone at the premises of the Castle, Osu, show a deliberate effort to subject me to mental torture and degrading treatment in violation of my fundamental rights,” she stated.
She further criticized the unusual venue of the hearings, noting, “All Article 146 proceedings, with the exception of the one I am being subjected to, had hitherto been held in a judicial facility, specifically the Courts Complex. The location of proceedings affecting me to a cordoned high-security facility boggles the mind.”
The affidavit is in support of her earlier application for an interlocutory injunction to halt the committee’s proceedings, which she described as a “mockery of justice and a ruse to unjustifiably remove me from office as the Chief Justice.”
The committee, chaired by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang, and including Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, Daniel Yao Domelevo, Major Flora Bazwaanura Dalugo, and Professor James Sefah Dzisah, was set up by the President to probe three petitions against her.
Chief Justice Torkornoo also alleged procedural irregularities, stating, “On 23rd May, 2025, notwithstanding receipt of the processes filed in the Supreme Court, including the application for interlocutory injunction, the members of the committee indicated their resolve to proceed with the conduct of the inquiry.”
She added that she has not been informed of the specific allegations or the basis for the prima facie case against her, hindering her ability to prepare a defense.
The Chief Justice is seeking the court’s intervention to stop what she calls an “assault on judicial independence and protect the security of tenure of the Chief Justice and Justices of the Superior Courts of Judicature at play in the instant case.”
Read the full affidavit by the Chief Justice below:
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