A former Director of the Ghana School of Law and private legal practitioner, Ansah Asare, has challenged the suspended Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Torkornoo, stating that she legally cannot resign from her position despite her public declaration that she won’t step down.
Speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey on Thursday, June 26, Ansah Asare argued that, contrary to Justice Torkornoo’s statement, she does not even have the option to resign at this stage.
He said, “I should make it clearer, you know, to our listeners, that her leadership, Justice Torkornoo whether she spoke or not, cannot resign. So saying that she will not resign, you know, baffles me, she can’t. The law is not on her side to resign.”
He explained that as head of the Judiciary and President of the Supreme Court, Justice Torkornoo should be well aware of existing legal precedents that prohibit individuals under investigation pursuant to a petition from resigning.
“She is head of the judiciary and president of the Supreme Court. And she knows that there’s a binding pronouncement on, whether or not persons who are being investigated pursuant to petitions reserve their right to resign, the Supreme Court says no.”
Citing the Amoah vs. Attorney-General case, Mr. Asare noted that the Supreme Court ruled that a person undergoing impeachment proceedings cannot resign, and even if they attempt to, the President of the Republic cannot accept such a resignation.
Accepting it, he said, would amount to undermining the integrity of the constitutional process.
“Amoah and Attorney-General, when Justice Amoah wanted to resign, the Supreme Court said that one, Justice Amoah could not resign because it didn’t in his mouth or power to resign. And two, even if he resigns, the president of the republic cannot accept it, because if the president accepts it, the president will be undermining the credibility of the integrity of the process pursuant to article 147,” he stressed.
Justice Torkornoo, currently facing impeachment proceedings under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution, held a press conference on Wednesday, June 25, where she described the process as flawed, biased, and politically motivated.
She insisted that resigning would wrongly imply an admission of guilt and fuel political manipulation of the situation.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Hamdia Mohammed
