Suspended Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, has strongly rejected allegations of bribery, insisting that her integrity remains untarnished despite the impeachment process she is currently facing.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, June 25, Justice Torkornoo declared that throughout her decades-long legal and judicial career, no one can accuse her of accepting a bribe.
“I am confident that in my journey as a lawyer, judge and now Chief Justice, there is no one person who can look at me in the eye and accuse me of taking a bribe to decide a case. This is the personal treasure of integrity that I live with,” she stated.
She further alleged that the current proceedings are part of a carefully orchestrated effort to remove her from office, even without lawful justification.
“So what if these current proceedings are being carefully staged to result in my removal as Chief Justice – even if there is no lawful justification? All I have stated shows that any such action would have been done on the basis of lies and violations of law and due process,” Justice Torkornoo asserted.
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The suspended Chief Justice expressed dismay over what she described as irregularities in the process, adding, “As a career judge who has served under four different presidents, from the High Court, Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, I could never have imagined such irregularities possible if I had not personally encountered them.”
Her remarks come in the wake of a Supreme Court decision to strike out a supplementary affidavit she filed in support of her application for an injunction on the impeachment proceedings.
In the affidavit, Justice Torkornoo alleged inhumane treatment, violations of her dignity, and described the process as a “mockery of justice” driven by political motives aimed at unjustly removing her from office.
However, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court upheld an objection raised by Deputy Attorney General Justice Srem Sai, who argued that the affidavit breached Article 146(8) of the Constitution, which requires that proceedings for the removal of judges be conducted in private.
The Deputy Attorney General contended that the affidavit disclosed aspects of the committee’s confidential deliberations, violating the Constitution’s confidentiality requirements.
Justice Torkornoo’s legal counsel, former Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, defended the affidavit, stating that it was filed within a judicial forum and was not made available to the general public. He argued that this did not amount to a breach of the Constitution.
Nonetheless, the Supreme Court ruled that the contents of the affidavit violated the confidentiality provisions of Article 146(8) and accordingly struck it out.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Hamdia Mohammed
