Qualified Torkornoo was an easy choice to make – Akufo-Addo

The choice of Justice Gertrude Torkornoo as the next chief justice was an easy one to make, President Nana Akufo-Addo has said.

At the swearing-in ceremony of the new CJ on Monday, June 12, 2023, at the Jubilee House, the president said: “The choice of Justice Gertrude Torkornoo as the 15th Chief Justice was not a particularly difficult one to make, in view of her level of qualification, the number of years spent with distinction at the bench, and the superior court of judicature.”

Justice Torkornoo is the third female Chief Justice after Theodora Wood and Sophia Akuffo.

She takes over from Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, who retired recently.

The new CJ is President Akufo-Addo’s third appointment to that office since taking office in 2017.

Meanwhile, the new Chief Justice has given an indication that she intends to use her tenure to get more courts digitalised.

In her inaugural speech after she was sworn into office by President Nana Akufo-Addo, she bemoaned that “two decades since tackling the issue of automation, only 62 percent of courts use computers as part of their work”.

“Computerisation is only the first process in the automation of court processes”, Justice Torkornoo said.

She added: “After acquiring electronic devices to capture records of court processes, the registry, and offices of stakeholders must be networked in order to allow for the next level of automation

“This is a national burden and we are slowed by any sluggishness in the nation’s digitalisation drive

She said: “Currently, our records show that only 26 per cent of courts are networked and only 12 per cent of courts have been brought into the bracket of full automation in the operation through the digitalisation of their processes”.