Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare is a legal practitioner
Private legal practitioner, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, has responded to calls by two foreign legal bodies, the Bar Council of England and Wales (BCEW) and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA), for the reinstatement of suspended Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Torkornoo.
Sharing his views on the development, Kwaku Azar, as he is popularly known, criticised the legal bodies, asserting that their calls and their intervention in the Chief Justice’s impeachment process does not respect the country’s constitutional independence.
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According to him, while the country welcomes constructive criticisms and dialogues from its international partners, the actions of the two legal bodies, as well as public calls for executive intervention, pose a grave danger.
He explained that such calls could lead to political interference in the country’s constitutional processes if care is not taken.
“… while we welcome constructive dialogue from Commonwealth partners, we urge that such engagement be conducted in a manner that respects our constitutional independence, the separation of powers, and the integrity of our domestic legal processes. Public calls for executive intervention in ongoing constitutional procedures risk creating the very perception of political interference that the BCEW and CLA seek to avoid,” he wrote on Facebook on August 15, 2025.
Kwaku Azar further criticised the BCEW and CLA, stating that they failed to acknowledge the country’s difficult state of mourning and did not extend any sympathy.
Instead, he said they chose to comment on the Chief Justice’s impeachment process.
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“We are presently in mourning following the tragic loss of distinguished public servants. We would have expected our partners in the Commonwealth to extend sympathy and respect for this period of national grief before commenting on ongoing constitutional processes,” he added.
Kwaku Azar reiterated the country’s commitment to upholding the rule of law and adhering to both its constitutional and international obligations without violating them.
Read his full post below:
MAG/AE
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