President Mahama (L) and suspended Chief Justice Torkornoo
Suspended Chief Justice of Ghana, Gertrude Torkornoo, has sued the government of Ghana at the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Justice Torkornoo sued the government over her suspension and the ongoing hearing on three petitions for her removal.
The embattled Chief Justice asked the Community Court for a number of reliefs, including the revocation of her suspension and a stop to the ongoing hearing on the three petitions for her removal, which were submitted to President John Dramani Mahama.
However, the relief that has caught the eye of the public the most is the demand for $10 million in compensation.
Justice Torkornoo, in her application, is demanding the $10 million compensation because her suspension and the ongoing process on the petitions have violated her human rights and caused damage to her reputation and that of her family.
The demand for the compensation, which was her ninth relief, was captured as: “an award of USD 10 million as compensation for moral and reputational damages suffered by the Applicant as a result of her illegal suspension and unfair investigation.”
She contended that her suspension by President John Dramani Mahama “exposed her to public ridicule and odium, locally and internationally, and that the said act constitutes a violation of her human right to dignity guaranteed by Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
Justice Torkornoo, according to a report by gbcghanaonline.com, accused President John Dramani Mahama of failing to specify the claims in the petitions for her removal upon which he relied to suspend her.
“Fairness implies that the President, in making the prima facie determination with the Council of State, must specify the particular charges in respect of which a prima facie case is deemed to have been established and the reasons for the same.
“The President’s letter failed to do this. It simply stated that a prima facie case has been found against the Applicant without more. To date, the Applicant does not know the reasons for the President stating that a prima facie case has been established against her,” part of her application reads.
She added, “Yet a committee has been formed and is working. The President’s purported prima facie determination was no determination at all, as it failed to meet the standard of a judicious and objective assessment and, as such, was arbitrary and capricious.”
BAI/AE
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