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Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has issued a strong warning against any attempt to remove Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo on what he describes as baseless or minor grounds. He cautioned that such actions could endanger the independence of Ghana’s judiciary and tilt the balance of power toward the executive.
In an interview on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News on Thursday, April 17, Awuah urged that constitutional guidelines on the removal of a Chief Justice be carefully considered and respected. He pointed out that the Constitution does mention grounds like “stated misbehaviour” and “incompetence,” but the interpretation of these terms is intentionally left to the judgment of both the President and the Council of State.
“It is not necessarily the procedure; it is also about the potential outcome. If you avert your mind to the grounds for the removal of the CJ, you will notice something,” he noted.
“You will notice that even though the grounds are stated there, what accounts for instance to stated misbehaviour, what accounts for instance to incompetence is something which is left to the good sense of the President and the Council of State, and the Constitution was deliberate about it,” Awuah explained.
He further warned that in the absence of serious justification, any such move could set a dangerous precedent, undermining the judiciary’s independence and risking its subordination to executive influence.
“In the same token, what constitutes stated misbehavior is unknown, and what goes into it is unknown. So very much heavily depends on the President and the Council of State at this point,” he added.
“All we are saying is that if there isn’t anything grievous, let’s not touch the Chief Justice because we risk making the judiciary a subsidiary of the executive,” Awuah cautioned.
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