Following the suspension of Chief Justice Torkornoo by President John Dramani Mahama, details of the petitions submitted to the president for her removal are emerging.
The details show that the three petitions the president indicated he found had merit, upon consultation with the Council of State, were filed by a group calling itself the Shining Stars of Ghana; a senior police officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ayamga Yakubu Akolgo (Esq); and a private citizen, Daniel Ofori.
The three petitions essentially centre on claims of misuse of public funds, controversial Supreme Court rulings, and questionable administrative decisions.
Here is a breakdown of claims against Justice Torkornoo in the three petitions:
Financial misconduct
According to a report by theheraldghana.com, one of the main grounds for the removal of the Chief Justice in one of the petitions is alleged financial misappropriation against her.
Justice Torkornoo is accused of making illegal payments to her two immediate family members — her husband, Francis Kofi Torkornoo, and their daughter, Sarah Edem Amiga Torkornoo — for a trip.
The report indicated that the suspended Chief Justice spent nearly GH¢260,000 on business class air tickets and approximately $30,000 in per diem allowances for her family during the trip.
The Herald indicated that an audit report on the Judicial Service found that “both the current Chief Justice and her predecessor, Justice Anin Yeboah, misused public funds to sponsor luxury family trips, sidelining official security arrangements.”
It was alleged that Justice Torkornoo took her husband on a trip to Tanzania, incurring flight costs exceeding GH¢75,000, and received US$14,000 in accountable imprest for the trip, which she has yet to refund.
In another trip to the United States, Justice Torkornoo’s daughter allegedly had her ticket upgraded, with a total cost of GH¢109,482.00 for the trip and a per diem of US$10,000.
A report by asaaseradio.com indicated that the accusation of financial misappropriation against the suspended Chief Justice was filed by Daniel Ofori.
A portion of his petition is quoted by the media house as follows:
“In 2023, the Honourable Chief Justice misappropriated the sum of GH¢261,890.00 of public funds for the benefit of the Chief Justice for her private foreign travel with her husband, Mr Francis Kofi Torkornoo, and her daughter Miss Edem S.A. Torkornoo, and US$30,000 in per diem allowance when, to her knowledge, neither the husband of the Chief Justice nor the Chief Justice’s daughter were entitled to have their travel or any travel allowances paid for out of the funds of the Judicial Service.
“In 2023, the Honourable Chief Justice misappropriated GH¢75,580.00 from public funds to purchase Ethiopian Airlines tickets for the Honourable Chief Justice and her husband during Her Ladyship’s vacation to Arusha, Tanzania.
“In 2023, Her Ladyship the Honourable Chief Justice obtained from the Judicial Service an accountable imprest for $14,000.00 to travel with her husband to Arusha, Tanzania, which she failed to return.”
There are 18 other allegations in Daniel Ofori’s petition.
Questionable judgment
One of the accusations against the Chief Justice, captured in most of the petitions, is the issuance of questionable judgments in cases she presided over.
The petition by Shining Stars accused her of breaching the 1992 Constitution of Ghana in her ruling in the suit filed by the current Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, against the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, over the declaration of four seats in Parliament as vacant.
The group argued that the decision of the court to overturn the judgement of the Speaker of Parliament did not follow due process and pointed to incompetence, which is grounds for removal.
“We are of the view that the Speaker’s decision does not meet the threshold of irreparable harm upon which the court grants orders of stay of execution without hearing him. We hold on to that view because those Members of Parliament who might have been affected by the Speaker’s ruling could seek legal redress and reverse whatever privileges and rights were denied them.
“We further express our opinion on the ruling of the Speaker’s application that the Chief Justice who presided over the above Application breached the rules of natural justice, which has been raised to a constitutional right in Article 23 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. However, such a major breach by the Chief Justice, in our opinion, amounts to incompetence,” part of the petition is quoted by asaaseradio.com.
Theheraldghana.com also indicated that another claim of questionable judgment against the Chief Justice was the case filed by one Daniel Ofori against Ecobank Ghana Limited.
The Supreme Court panel that presided over the case allegedly felt that although the complainant had merit, ruling in their favour would collapse the financial institution.
Questionable administrative decisions
According to asaaseradio.com, the petition by Ayamga Akolgo accused Justice Torkornoo of violating the ethics of the bench and called for her removal.
The senior police officer is reported to have stated in his petition that the Chief Justice abused her powers by wrongly causing his arrest and detention.
“She abuses the sacred judicial office by wrongly causing my arrest and detention. The arrest and detention were capricious, unreasonable, unilateral, and without justification, constituting stated misbehaviour and incompetence as provided in Article 146(1) of the Constitution. The arrest and detention infringed on my rights, dignity, and resulted in pain, trauma, and humiliation.
“She failed or neglected to perform her judicial duty of recording the occurrence in the court’s record book. She authorised, supervised, and approved false statements or false entries in the search report.
“The supervision of false statements in the search was intended to deceive, cover up, obstruct, or pervert the course of justice, or constitute criminal fabrication of evidence, contrary to statutes, the Code of Conduct for Judges, and consistent with stated misbehaviour and incompetence as provided in Article 146(1) of the Constitution,” parts of Ayamga Akolgo’s petition are quoted by the media house.
BAI/AE
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