Lawyer and leading Convention People’s Party (CPP) member, Kwame Jantuah, has advised former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo to abandon her legal challenge against her removal from office by President John Mahama.
Speaking on radio on Saturday, September 20, Jantuah said the former Chief Justice should focus on securing her entitlements rather than pursuing what he described as a divisive case.
“I think she should let sleeping dogs lie. In everything you do there are negotiations. For me, the most important thing was her entitlement,” he stated.
Jantuah explained that under Article 146 of the Constitution, the President has the sole authority to nominate and remove a Chief Justice unlike in the UK, where judicial committees play a role—and urged the constitutional review process to revisit this arrangement.
“Maybe we should have the UK kind of system here so that the President doesn’t have the mandate to nominate a Chief Justice. That clause has created challenges for us,” he added.
He also cautioned against the growing tensions between the Attorney General and the Ghana Bar Association, warning that friction among the three arms of government could undermine governance.
Former Chief Justice Torkornoo, who was removed on September 1 following a committee’s recommendation citing stated misbehaviour and incompetence, has filed a Supreme Court case challenging her removal from both the Chief Justice role and as a Justice of the Supreme Court.
