William Atuguba is a retired Supreme Court Judge
Retired Supreme Court Justice, William Atuguba, has questioned the rationale behind the outcry from critics, particularly the objection raised by former Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, over Acting Chief Justice, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, presiding over a high-profile constitutional case on the Chief Justice’s suspension.
According to him, the suspended Chief Justice had a vested interest in her own case, particularly in the way she carefully selected the panel of judges to preside over the matter involving her.
In a JoyNews interview on May 7, 2025, Justice Atuguba warned of serious consequences for the country if the politicisation of issues and governance is not brought to an end.
“I’m telling you, this country, if we are not able to exorcise political poison from our governance system, we’ll continue to suffer. Before her suspension, when the process was commenced for her removal and Godfred Dame and others brought suits and injunction, who empaneled the suspended Chief Justice? She had no interest in her own matter?” he said.
In an effort to provide clarity on how judges are empaneled to preside over cases, the legal luminary explained that it is the Chief Justice who is responsible for selecting the panel of judges.
He maintained that suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo had a vested interest in her own case and influenced the empanelment by selecting judges to hear the matter involving her.
“Empaneling involves picking and choosing who to sit and you think she had no interest in that? Of course, there have been some decisions saying that the Chief Justice is the only person who can empanel if she’s around. With hindsight, I think that those decisions have to be looked at again. The fact that so long as the Chief Justice is in office, he or she must do the empaneling.
“They quote the provision that makes her the head of administration and the judiciary but they overlook the introductory work, subject to the provisions of this constitution. It’s not just you’re the head of the administration and even if that subject were not there, it will be implied because in Article 1 and so forth, all powers are to be exercised in the interests and for the welfare of the people, so, any step that detracts from that is unconstitutional,” he explained.
His comments come in the wake of the Supreme Court’s dismissal of an objection raised by former Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, against Acting Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie presiding over a high-profile constitutional case.
Lawyer for the Plaintiff, Godfred Dame, raised an objection to the Acting CJ presiding on the grounds that he is directly affected by the outcome of the case and, therefore, cannot preside.
However, Deputy Attorney General, Justice Srem Sai, countered the argument by stating that there is a misconception of personal benefit to the Acting CJ but that is not so.
The case filed by Vincent Assafuah as a concerned citizen, questioned the legality of President John Dramani Mahama’s decision to suspend Chief Justice Torkornoo without first notifying her and obtaining her input before consulting the Council of State.
MAG/AE
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