Presidential Staffer, Nana Yaa Jantuah
Presidential Staffer Nana Yaa Jantuah has said suspended Chief Justice Torkornoo should not receive ‘special treatment’ just because she’s a woman, citing similar cases involving other women like Charlotte Osei.
Some persons including lawyer and women’s rights advocate Gloria Ofori-Boadu has condemned the suspension of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, describing it as a politically motivated attack on judicial independence and a blatant act of gender discrimination.
In a recent interview with Asaase Radio, Ofori-Boadu argued that the petitions leading to the suspension of the Chief Justice are not only “frivolous” but also driven by a deep-rooted discomfort with a woman occupying such a powerful position.
“I see the suspension as an attempt by the state to capture the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, which is guaranteed under our constitution,” she said.
But commenting further in a panel discussion Channel One TV on Thursday, May 22, 205,
According to her, just as other female public officers including former Electoral Commission Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, former Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education, Loretta Lamptey and herself Nana Yaa when she served as Director of External Affairs’ at the Public Utility Regulatory Authority were taken through the legal process, the same must apply to the embattled Chief Justice.
Speaking in a panel discussion on the petition for the removal of the Chief Justice, Nana Yaa Jnatuah stressed: “I don’t want you to play the gender card because Charlotte Osei wasn’t a man, she was a woman. Other women were not men. Loretta Lamptey, I myself I am a woman, I am not a man. And we went through worst things than what CJ is going through, the NPP didn’t see us as women. So, let’s not play the gender card.
I do not think that we should play the gender card that because she is a woman. If the law says ‘A’, let ‘A’ work. I have sat on this same platform and said let the process go through . Why is everybody fighting it, let it go trough. Some other people went through processes and at the end of the day, what happened, happened. Others too went through and they were exonerated. Let the process go trough, what the Constitution has said should be done, let it be done. It is as if everybody is preempting the end of it.
Meanwhile, the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, has filed a lawsuit at the Supreme Court challenging her suspension by President John Dramani Mahama.
Meanwhile, in a writ filed by her lawyer, Godfred Yeboah Dame, a former Attorney General on Wednesday May 21, 2025, the Chief Justice is seeking declarations from the Supreme Court that her suspension as well as the impeachment process against her are unconstitutional and, therefore, null and void.
She is also seeking an order from the apex court setting aside her suspension by President Mahama and for the court to allow the petition proceedings against her to be heard in public and not in camera.
Additionally, she has filed an application for interlocutory injunction asking the court to halt the entire impeachment process against her pending the final determination of her lawsuit.
She is seeking a declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of articles 23, 146 (6) and (7) and 296 (a) and (b) of the Constitution, Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang is not qualified to be a chairman or member of the committee set up by President Mahama to inquire the petitions against Justice Torkornoo on account of having adjudicated and given various rulings in favour of one of the petitioners, Daniel Ofori in actions filed in the Supreme Court.
Following the determination of a prima facie case in the three petitions asking for the removal from office of Chief Justice Gertrude 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.
“Let’s not play the gender card — the law must apply to everyone equally.”
Presidential Staffer Nana Yaa Jantuah says suspended Chief Justice Torkornoo shouldn’t receive ‘special treatment’ because she’s a woman, citing similar cases involving other women like Charlotte Osei.… pic.twitter.com/9BchbsxqCI
— CITI FM 97.3 (@Citi973) May 22, 2025
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