Dr. Joshua Jebuntie Zaato, the Senior Lecturer and Political Analyst at the University of Ghana, has asserted that the suspension of the Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo and the ongoing processes to remove her from office are sheer demands of some “hawks” within the NDC party.
Dr. Zaato believes that left to President Mahama alone, he did not want to have a record of suspending and potentially removing a Chief Justice from office as it has never happened in Ghana’s political history.
Speaking in an interview on TV3 New Day’s Big Issues, Wednesday, May 7, 2025, he said considering the President’s contributions to governance and politics in the country over the years, John Mahama has no interest in adding such a record of suspending a Chief Justice to his legacy.
Dr. Zaato added that the suspension of the Chief Justice is only a means to get rid of EC Chair, Charlotte Osei and all her deputies, stating that it is an agenda by some hawks within the NDC party.
“Unfortunately, something tells me deep down that His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana did not want to go down this path.
“Deep down I believe this Chief Justice has become a victim of circumstances. She is a means to an end; the end is to get rid of the EC Chair and all her deputies.
“In every political party, there are hawks. I want to believe that in this particular issue, the hawks within the NDC political party have won and have been able to convince the President,” he stressed.
“Because I don’t think that His Excellency the President would want a removal of the Chief Justice to be part of his record. He has invested a lot of his life in the governance of this country and I don’t think this is what he wants. Right now, if he looks at the amount of space, personally I want to believe that the hawks have won him over,” Dr. Zaato further explained.
He urged the Constitutional review committee in its review work to address the processes in removing a Chief Justice to make it difficult to remove a Chief Justice.
“The constitutional review committee should better take a look at this because if not we are going to go into a vicious cycle so much so that any Chief Justice appointed should just know that once the President is leaving, they should also pack their things.
“Because we are learning from history and past events do influence nature and when confronted with such circumstances, politicians and policy makers turn to look at history,” he stated.
On May 6, 2025, the Supreme Court, in a majority decision of 3-2, with Justices Mensah Bonsu and Ernest Gaewu dissenting, refused the application by Vincent Assafuah, preventing further action from being taken and ordering a halt to the warrant suspending the Chief Justice.
Prior to the dismissal, the Supreme Court had, by a unanimous decision, dismissed the objection raised by Godfred Dame against Acting Chief Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie in the case against a petition to remove the Chief Justice Getrturde Torkornoo.
—3news
