ACCRA, Ghana
Ghanaian President John Mahama has suspended the country's Supreme Court chief justice - a move that marks a first in the country's history.
An investigation has been
launched and three undisclosed petitions have been filed making allegations
against Gertrude Torkornoo, calling for her permanent removal.
Chief justices in Ghana enjoy
security of tenure - meaning they can only be removed from office on a few
grounds, which include incompetence and misbehaviour.
The content of the petitions
has not been made public and she is yet to comment, while Ghana's former
attorney general has claimed her suspension is an attempt to undermine the
judiciary.
"I think it is a complete
charade," Godfred Yeboah Dame told the BBC.
"It's the biggest assault
on the [judiciary] in the nation's history, the greatest assault on the
independence of the judiciary under the constitutional dispensation of this
country."
Ms Torkornoo is Ghana's third
female chief justice and was nominated in 2023 by former president Nana
Akufo-Addo.
It is her responsibility to
oversee the administration of justice in Ghana.
According to news agency
Reuters, Ms Torkornoo survived a removal request earlier this year when former
President Akufo-Addo said a petition to have her dismissed had "several
deficiencies".
Copies of the three recently
filed petitions against Ms Torkornoo were not initially made available to her.
But some lawyers argued that
withholding the documents was a violation of Ms Torkornoo's right to a fair
hearing.
Copies of the petition were
subsequently made available to the chief justice, allowing her to respond to
the allegations privately and in writing.
Ms Torkornoo will be invited
by the five-member committee to respond again to the petitions before a final
decision is reached as to whether she should be removed from office or not.
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