At the same time the sacking of heads of independent constitutional bodies including Electoral Commissioner Charlotte Osei in 2018 Auditor General Daniel Domelevo in 2020 and Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo in 2025 has raised fundamental questions about institutional independence from political interference (AC Vol 66 No 24 Who is guarding the guards...

President Mahama has appointed 120 judges in the first 19 months of his second term including 10 to the Supreme Court (against Akufo-Addo's 18 over eight years) and sacked Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo (AC Vol 66 No 18 Constitutional battles to follow Mahama's removal of Chief Justice)...

The row over the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo will rumble on but a proposal by the Kwasi Prempeh-led Constitutional Review Committee would transfer such decisions to a professional body independent of the presidency...

A similar provision which also raised concerns about risks of partisanship was used to remove former Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Torkornoo in April (AC Vol 66 No 18 Constitutional battles to follow Mahama's removal of Chief Justice)...

The fight over President John Dramani Mahama's dismissal of Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo on 1 September has prompted calls for constitutional reform across the political spectrum...

The next political fight will be over whether President John Dramani Mahama should use the same mechanism that removed Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo to dismiss other heads of independent institutions – or wait for constitutional reform...

THE POLITICAL FIGHT REACHES THE JUDGES The hearings on three petitions claiming serial misconduct and calling for the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo from office were due to open in Accra on 15 May...

However a five-member panel led by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo ruled: ‘There is nothing in the judgment… that shows the trial judge was biased or showed any prejudice against the applicant in the judgment given on March 15 2023...

PUTTING THE CHIEF JUSTICE IN THE DOCK On 17 December activist and legal academic Stephen Kwaku Asare petitioned the President to remove Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo for alleged misbehaviour and incompetence...

Update 13 January 2025 On 6th January outgoing President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo dismissed the petition seeking the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo...

But the Supreme Court presided over by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo rejected the application saying that it would not issue such an order 'at this stage since the matters raised would be dealt with in the substantive case'...