The 2024 New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the Adentan constituency, Akosua Manu, has called on Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang to intervene in what she describes as the human rights abuse being meted out to suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Esaaba Torkonoo.
The embattled Chief Justice was suspended last April after the Council of State established a prima facie case in three separate petitions seeking her removal from office.
Following that, the President, acting on the provisions of Article 146, established a five-member committee to probe the allegations.
However, in a supplementary affidavit filed at the Supreme Court on Monday, May 26, Justice Torkonoo described the ongoing process as degrading, inhumane, and unconstitutional.
She claimed her basic legal rights have been ignored and that she has still not been informed about the specific allegations or how a prima facie case was established against her.
In an open letter to the Vice President on Wednesday, June 11, Akosua Manu appealed to her sense of womanhood to help restore dignity to the suspended CJ and ensure that if she is to be removed, it is done fairly and lawfully.
“Dear Madam Vice President, help restore it by entreating the President and his administration to cease the violation of the Chief Justice’s rights. The random searches, the seizure of mobile devices, the home invasions, and the synchronized media trials must end. The tone and tactics being employed to discredit and oust the Chief Justice send a deeply concerning signal in the year Ghana celebrates its first female Vice President,” reads part of the letter.
The former MP hopeful added, “I am not oblivious to the political, social, and legal undertones of this pursuit. It is not lost on me that pre-election commentary indicated Madam Esaaba’s position was under threat following the NDC’s victory. What was not said was that she would be robbed of her dignity. It is this dignity that I implore you to intervene and restore.”
