Dr Joshua Jebuntie Zaato and Gertrude Torkornoo
Policy analyst and Senior Lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Dr Joshua Jebuntie Zaato, has asserted that the exit of the suspended Chief Justice, Getrude Torkornoo, is inevitable, describing it as a foregone conclusion.
Speaking in an interview on TV3 and monitored by GhanaWeb on Friday, May 9, 2025, Dr Zaato stated emphatically that there is no chance of her returning to office.
“It’s a forgone conclusion, it’s done; the Chief Justice is gone. There will be a new Chief Justice. Let me say by the end of the year, watching everything going on, this Chief Justice is gone – she’s out.
“She’s not going back to the office. Maybe she’s going just to pack her things if she didn’t pack all of them, but as the Chief Justice she is done; it’s finished,” he stated.
He alleged that some people in the NDC had been able to convince President Mahama to remove the Chief Justice.
“I am a political scientist, so, I observe, I watch, I analyse, I see these things. Every political party has what we call hawks and maybe doves and then you have those in the middle. The hawks want everything extreme.
“The doves are in the middle, I want to believe that in this debate on these particular issues, the hawks within the NDC and the government have won, and they’ve been able to convince the president. They’ve won because I don’t think that His Excellency the president will want a removal of a Chief Justice to be part of his record,” he stated.
He further explained that the suspension of the Chief Justice points to a deliberate measure to achieve a political agenda.
“Everything here; everything we are trying to see about going to court… that is politics in action right there (sic) because you are seeing the weaponisation of the legal process to achieve a political objective; that is what is happening,” he added.
Following the determination of a prima facie case in the three petitions asking for the removal from office of Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, President John Dramani Mahama has suspended her and set up a five-member committee to inquire into the petitions.
In the interim, a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, has assumed the role as Acting Chief Justice.
His role as the Acting Chief Justice is in line with Article 144(6) of the 1992 Constitution, which stipulates that the most senior Justice on the Supreme Court will act as Chief Justice if the position of Chief Justice becomes vacant or the substantive Chief Justice is unable to perform his or her functions.
JKB/AE
You can also watch the latest Twi news on GhanaWeb TV below: