A former Director of the Ghana School of Law, Kwaku Ansa-Asare, has cautioned the government against setting what he described as a dangerous precedent in its handling of Justice Gertrude Torkornoo’s removal.
Speaking at the 8th congregation of MountCrest University College, where 137 students graduated on Saturday, September 21, Mr. Ansa-Asare argued that Ghana’s constitutional framework does not support the removal of Justice Torkornoo from her substantive position as a Justice of the Supreme Court, even if she is no longer Chief Justice.
He explained that under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution, the removal process applies to a Chief Justice only in cases of “stated misbehaviour or incompetence.”
However, he stressed that this provision does not automatically strip an individual of their membership on the apex court.
“I think that we administered common law rules, obedience to equitable principles. Our law insists not only on common law rules but also on equitable principles,” he said, citing Articles 11(1)(e) and 11(2) of the Constitution to highlight the importance of equity in Ghana’s legal system.
Mr. Ansa-Asare therefore urged the government to honourably retire Justice Torkornoo and grant her all her entitlements, rather than proceed with what he described as an improper removal process.
