The President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Efua Ghartey, has, for the first time, reacted to the removal of Justice Gertrude Torkornoo as the Chief Justice of Ghana.

According to a report by thelawplatform.com, Efua Ghartey, in her address at the 2025 Ghana Bar Association Conference in Wa on Monday, September 12, 2025, criticised the removal of Justice Torkornoo.

She noted that though the process followed for the removal of Justice Torkornoo was lawful per the requirements set under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the process was unfair.

She explained that the process was unfair because it had no rules of procedure and was sketchy.

Efua Ghartey clarified that the GBA's earlier opposition to the removal process when it began was not because it was illegal, but because of the lack of clarity on the procedure to follow.

"The President of the Bar said the process for the removal is unfair when deployed in the removal of a Chief Justice. The President of the Bar made it quite clear that the position of the Bar as announced at the mini-conference in Accra was not against the legality of the removal process but rather, the lack of procedural clarity in the removal process," part of the report reads.



About Justice Torkornoo’s removal:

President John Dramani Mahama, in accordance with Article 146(9) of the 1992 Constitution, removed Justice Gertrude Torkornoo from office on September 1, 2025.

The decision followed the receipt of the report of the Committee of Inquiry established under Article 146(6) of the Constitution to investigate a petition submitted by a Ghanaian citizen, Daniel Ofori, calling for the removal of the Chief Justice.

The letter informing Justice Torkornoo of her removal, which The Law Platform shared on social media on September 3, 2025, quoted portions of the report by the five-member Committee set up by President John Dramani Mahama under the 1992 Constitution.

The Committee, led by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang, recommended that Justice Torkornoo should be removed.

Among the reasons the Committee cited were avoidable and reckless dissipation of public funds during her travel with her husband to Tanzania on one occasion, and with her daughter to the United States of America on another occasion.

The Committee also found her guilty of unjustifiably breaching "the provisions in Article 296(a) and (b) of the 1992 Constitution" in transferring a judge.

“[1.9]. In the opinion of the Committee, the travel expenses which the Chief Justice heaped on the Judicial Service when she travelled on holidays in September 2023, first to Tanzania with her husband and second, to the United States of America with her daughter, together with the payment of per diem to the spouse and daughter of the Chief Justice, constitute unlawful expenditure of public funds. It cannot be justified in law or policy. Those acts constitute avoidable and reckless dissipation of public funds and, in the view of the Committee, having been occasioned by the overall head of the Judiciary and the Judicial Service, whose duty it is to guard public resources allocated by the Government, fall within the spectrum of stated misbehaviour.

“[3.4.] The Committee states without fear or favour that the Chief Justice unjustifiably breached the provisions in Article 296(a) and (b) of the Constitution, 1992, in the way and manner that she transferred Mr Baiden. Her conduct amounted to misbehaviour," parts of the letter read.

The Committee said in the letter that the actions of Justice Torkornoo "fall within the meaning and categories of stated misbehaviour as provided under Article 146(1) of the Constitution, 1992."

It went on to state that "[14.1]. In view of the findings of the Committee in paragraphs 1.9, 3.4, 6.7, 7.5, and 9.5 above, the Committee recommends to the President in accordance with Article 146(7) of the Constitution, that Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey-Torkornoo ought to be REMOVED from office."

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