Suspended chief of justice of Ghana Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has submitted a supplementary affidavit to halt the committee working on her removal.
In her affidavit she wrote saying;
I, JUSTICE GERTRUDE ARABA ESAABA SACKEY TORKONOO (MRS), Chief
Justice’s Residence, Accra, make oath and say as follows:
1. That I am a citizen of Ghana, the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana and
depose to this affidavit on matters within my knowledge, information and belief.
2. That on the 21st day of May, 2025, I instituted the instant action for reliefs endorsed
on the writ off summons.
3. That on the same 21st day of May, 2025, I filed an application for interlocutory
injunction seeking the reliefs stated on the motion paper.
4. That I respectfully seek leave of this Honourable Court to bring to the Court’s
attention various developments since the filing of the present application which
evidence a complete desecration of my basic constitutional rights to a fair trial,
violation of my dignity and subjection to inhuman and degrading treatment, of a
kind not meted out to even accused persons on trial for treason and other offences
against the State.
5. That I was informed by my lawyer, Kwabena Adu-Kusi, Esq. that the proceedings
of the committee set up by the President to inquire into the three petitions filed
against me had been adjoumed to a day after the commencement of our action in
this Honourable Court, i.e., to 22 d May, 2025.
6. That on 22 d May, 2025, I appeared before the committee together with my lawyers
and informed the committee members of the suit I had instituted against the
Attorey-General and the committee members, in response to which the committee
requested to receive copies of the processes filed, and adjourned proceedings to
the following day, Friday, 23rd May, 2025.
7. That 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.
8. That this was so, even though I have to date, not been told the basis for the
determination of a prima facie case against me and the specific allegations in
respect of which a prima case has been established for me to answer, to enable
me determine my legal rights or adequately prepare a defence to the charges
against me.
9. That on the pervious adjourned date of the committee’s sitting of 15th May, 2025,
at which I was represented by counsel, the committee refused to recognise my
counsel simply because I was not personally present, and proceeded to fix
subsequent hearing dates and make arrangements for the hearing without
involving my counsel, even though he was present. The committee, shockingly,
simply refused to recognise the same counsel on whom it had served a hearing
notice only a day before.
10. That the committee on the said 23rd May, 2025, contrary to known rules regulating
proceedings of committees/commissions of inquiry, indicated that the petitioners
shall not give evidence themselves but shall be calling other witnesses to give
evidence to support their petition.
11. That this is completely offensive to known rules of procedure regulating the work
of committees/commissions of inquiry as the so-called petitioners or complainants,
when they formally appear before the committee/commission of inquiry, are mere
witnesses whose evidence will have to be taken and cross-examined on oath by
the person affected by the proceedings.
12. That 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.
13. That 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.
14. That the persistent violations of my constitutional rights show that the whole
proceedings initiated against me are a mockery of justice and a ruse to unjustifiably
remove me from office as the Chief Justice.
15. That I respectfully pray for this Honourable Court’s intervention by the grant of an
injunction to prevent the 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.
WHEREFORE I swear to this supplementary affidavit in support.
