Legal practitioner Kwame Jantuah has urged suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo to maintain impartiality and avoid any form of retribution against her colleagues, should she be vindicated and reinstated.
His remarks follow the Chief Justice’s legal challenge at the Supreme Court to halt proceedings by a committee set up to investigate multiple petitions for her removal.
Justice Torkornoo, suspended by President John Dramani Mahama under Article 146(10) of the 1992 Constitution, is seeking an interlocutory injunction against the five-member committee chaired by Supreme Court Justice Gabriel Pwamang.
She also requested the recusal of Justices Pwamang and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, citing concerns over their impartiality.
The committee, established after a prima facie determination by the President in consultation with the Council of State, also includes former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo, Major Flora Bazwaanura Dalugo, and Professor James Sefah Dzisah.
Its proceedings, held in-camera per Article 146(8), began on Thursday, May 15, and are scheduled to convene three times a week.
Speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Mr. Jantuah emphasized the importance of preserving the integrity of the judiciary.
He advised that if the Chief Justice is cleared of wrongdoing, she should return with a spirit of reconciliation, not revenge.
He stressed that fostering unity within the judiciary is essential, warning that any internal conflicts could open the door for undue political influence.
Mr. Jantuah said, “I would want a situation If so happens that the chief justice is vindicated and she’s found innocent, she can either decide ‘I’ve had enough of this, I’m retiring’. If he doesn’t decide that then she should make sure that if she’s going to come back into the Supreme Court as chief justice, she has a clear mind of not vindicating any of her colleagues, that is very important because you know what it would do it to create challenges in the Supreme Court and in the judiciary.”
He added, “I’m saying that if she’s found to be innocent and she is reinstated as CJ, anything she feels her colleagues did to her during that process, she should live above it, as in payback trying to be, if you’re not even trying to pay back, sidelines some of the judges who were part and parcel of this, not put them on panels to say she should be a mother if it so happens that she is vindicated. Otherwise, it would create challenges, and it would also allow the politicians to seep in. We have three different arms of government the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary they need to be able to work to govern the country.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Hamdia Mohammed
