Dissolve CJ probe committee over dinner meeting between judges and lawyer – Mahama petitioned
A Ghanaian citizen, Alfred Ababio Kumi, has petitioned the President of the Republic to dissolve the five-member committee he has constituted to investigate some three petitions submitted against the Chief Justice of the Republic, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, after the President, together with the Council of State, established a prima facie case against the Chief Justice, which subsequently led to her suspension pending the investigation.
According to a copy of the petition sighted by this portal, dated 19 May 2025 and received at the presidency at about 4:13 pm on the same day, the petitioner stated reason for his petition is that two members of the committee, Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang (Chairman of the committee), Justice Samuel Adibu-Asiedu (member of the committee) in the company of another Supreme Court judge, Justice Yonni Kulendi, were spotted having dinner with Mr Thaddeus Sory, a lawyer who is representing one of the petitioners.
The petitioner’s case
The petitioner, Alfred Ababio Kumi, alleges that the evening after the first sitting of the committee on Thursday, 15 May 2025, “between the hours of 7:30 and 8:30 pm, Justices Gabriel Pwamang and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu together with Justice Yonni Kulendi of the Supreme Court of Ghana were seen having dinner with the counsel for one of the petitioners before the committee, Mr Thaddeus Sory at the Santoku Restaurant, located at Villagio, Airport Residential Area, Accra.
“The strange meeting of the four persons who are keenly interested in and have played, and indeed continue to play, critical roles initiated in the processes for the removal of the Chief Justice excited the curiosity of some persons in the restaurant. Indeed, they were overheard discussing matters relating to the petition,” the petition read in part. Respectfully, the record of the four Justices Pwamang, Kulendi, Asiedu, and lawyer Thaddeus Sory’s presence at the restaurant and meeting can easily be verified and confirmed.
“The above development is of grave worry as proceedings for the removal of the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana are a solemn process and should not lend itself to manipulation by any person or authority. The meeting between Justices Pwamang, Kulendi, and Asiedu with Thaddeus Sory clearly has destroyed the integrity of the process and reduced public confidence in the process so far,” Mr Ababio Kumi stated in his petition.
“Both Justices Asiedu and Pwamang are panel members set up to inquire into the petition. They have no business meeting with counsel for one of the petitioners outside working hours at an unofficial place – a restaurant, to have a discussion. This is more serious when the record shows that Justice Pwamang gave judgments in favour of the same petitioner, Daniel Ofori, represented by the same counsel, Thaddeus Sory, in the Supreme Court.
“Their conduct is deplorable and the most unbecoming of justices occupying the highest court in Ghana. It has the tendency to show that the whole process, quite unfortunately, is a sham. In the interest of preserving the integrity of the process, I hereby petition you for an immediate dissolution of the committee, as its ability to dispense justice is clearly compromised,” the petitioner concluded.
Background
The Chief Justice of the Republic, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, was suspended from office by the President of the Republic, John Dramani Mahama, on Tuesday (22 April 2025) through a statement issued by the Minister for government communication, Felix Kwakye Ofosu (MP).
The president’s actions, which are said to be grounded in Article 146 (10) of the 1992 constitution, were primarily inspired by three petitions that the president received seeking the removal of the Chief Justice from office.
A group calling itself Shining Stars of Ghana submitted the first petition to the president on 14 February 2025. Kingsley Agyei, who describes himself as the chairman and convenor of the Shining Stars of Ghana, signed the petition.
The second petition, presented to the president by Daniel Ofori, is dated Monday, March 17, 2025. The petitioner essentially states 21 allegations of misbehaviour and four allegations of incompetence, all of which relate to the Chief Justice’s discharge of her administrative roles and functions as head of the judiciary.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ayamga Yakubu Akolgo (Esq), a senior police officer in the Ghana Police Service stationed at the National Police Headquarters in Accra, is the third and final petitioner to submit a petition to the president for the removal of the Chief Justice from office. Akolgo’s submission was also made on 14 February 2025.
Read full petition below:
