Sophia Akuffo, Anin Yeboah, Jones Dotse, others testify on behalf of CJ Torkornoo

Two former Chief Justices of the Republic, Justice Sophia Akuffo (Rtd), and Justice Anin Yeboah (Rtd), together with other legal luminaries and jurists, have appeared before the five-member Article 146 committee established by President John Dramani Mahama, to testify in support of the sitting Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, sources close to the committee have confirmed.

Among the other jurists and very well-known legal minds who have also appeared before the committee, according to a source familiar with the development, are Nana Dr S.K.B. Asante, a senior Ghanaian statesman, lawyer, and Paramount Chief of Asokore Asante in the Ashanti Region, Chairman of the Committee of Experts that drafted the Constitution and Justice Jones Dotse, retired justice of the Supreme Court.

The list also includes Mr Samuel Okudzeto, a former member of the Council of State and renowned legal luminary with over 65 years standing at the bar in Ghana.

Another source familiar with the work of the committee also disclosed that the Executive Committee of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), represented by the Bar President, Efua Ghartey, Bar Vice President, Victoria Nana Ama Barth, and Executive Secretary, Kwaku Gyau Baffour, also stormed the committee to present the truth as opposed to the wrong allegations that the Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang-led committee is supposed to investigate.

They presented records on the work done by the Ghana Bar Association for the expansion of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice has been accused of recommending five Judges for appointment to the Supreme Court after comprehensive research was done by the Judiciary, Attorney General, and Ghana Bar Association. In less than eight months, President Mahama has appointed seven Judges to the Supreme Court.

Voluntary appearance

All the above-mentioned legal luminaries and jurists appeared voluntarily and without subpoenas before the Article 146 committee at the request of Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo to come and present the truth to the committee. They are believed to have appeared before the committee between Monday, 4 August 2025, and Monday, 18 August 2025.

The Chief Justice of the Republic, following her suspension by President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday, 22 April 2025, after consultation with the Council of State on three petitions submitted to the President for her removal from office, has been attending the committee’s sittings which commenced on Thursday, 15 May 2025, 24 days after the Chief Justice was temporarily removed from office pending the investigations.

Corroboration

Nana Dr SKB Asante is said to have testified that Article 146 was not included in the Constitution to justify removing a Chief Justice for any reason, such as going on vacation with a spouse. Like all of the Commonwealth nations, the only reasons allowed under Article 146 (1) of the 1992 Constitution are reasons that prove that the Chief Justice is unable to perform the functions of the office.

During their testimonies, the former Chief Justices and other legal luminaries and jurists corroborated the position of the Chief Justice in her response to the petitions submitted to the President by the three petitioners, which were forwarded to the Chief Justice by the office of the President for her side of the story after she demanded copies of the petitions.

“The lawyers of the Chief Justice solicited from the two former Chief Justices who appeared before the committee, for example, about the travel benefits that came with their office when they occupied the position of Chief Justice. The former Chief Justices both pointed out before the committee that they enjoyed the same benefits that the current Chief Justice has been accused of by one of the petitioners,” the source familiar with the committee’s sitting said.

“On the issue of assigning cases to judges and specific courts, the two former Chief Justices indicated before the committee that these matters were part of the usual administrative responsibilities of every individual occupying that office,” the source added.

Staggered process

The procedure adopted by the Article 146 Committee in conducting its affairs, which the Chief Justice has raised concerns with, also came up for scrutiny when the other jurists, such as Justice Jones Dotse (Rtd), Nana S.K.B. Asante, and Sam Okudzeto, appeared to testify, the source said.

The senior jurists, according to the source, explained the seriousness that must characterize a charge for which an Article 146 committee must be set up to address, and juxtaposed that context against the nature of the complaints brought against Chief Justice Torkornoo, which were all about matters that a Chief Justice was supposed to do as part of their work.

It was also contended that the committee’s failure to serve the Chief Justice and her legal team with the prima facie findings of the President in consultation with the Council of State and the specific issues set down for consideration by the committee constituted a straightforward breach of the 1992 Constitution that made the hearings invalid.

CJ Testimony

Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, according to a source familiar with the work of the Article 146 Committee, has been testifying before the committee since Monday, 18 August 2025, and adding to the evidence that all the accusations are false.

The source added that after the testimony of the Chief Justice, the committee is expected to conclude its work and begin the preparation of its report, which will be submitted to the President.

Background

The Chief Justice of the Republic, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, was suspended from office by the President of the Republic, John Dramani Mahama, on Tuesday (22 April 2025).

The president’s actions, which are said to be grounded in Article 146 (10) of the 1992 constitution, were supposed to be in response to 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. A search at the Registrar of Companies shows that no such group has been registered in the country.

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 second 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 and complained about matters that happened in the course of the Supreme Court’s work. Justice Pwamang was part of that panel, and yet he is supposed to be sitting as chairman to judge the Chief Justice on the same case.

The third and final petition, presented to the president by Daniel Ofori, is dated Monday, March 17, 2025. The petitioner claims 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.

Committee members

Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang, who is currently the second most senior Supreme Court judge in Ghana (if you include the suspended Chief Justice in the count), or the most senior justice of the Supreme Court after the acting Chief Justice, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie (if one excludes the suspended Chief Justice), is the chair of the five-member committee.

The committee’s other members are Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, a justice of the Supreme Court; Daniel Yaw Domelevo, a former auditor general; Major Flora Bazwaanura Dalugo, an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces; and Professor James Sefah Dzisah, an associate professor at the University of Ghana.