Suspend my suspension by President Mahama — CJ Torkornoo petitions Supreme Court

Suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo

Suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo has filed an urgent application at the Supreme Court, seeking to suspend the enforcement of her suspension by President John Dramani Mahama.

She is also asking the Court to restrain a six-member committee tasked with investigating petitions for her removal from office.

Filed on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, the application seeks an interlocutory injunction to halt all proceedings of the committee until the Supreme Court delivers a final ruling on the matter.

According to court documents, Justice Torkornoo is requesting the Court to bar the committee—comprising Justices Gabriel Scott Pwamang and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo, Major Flora Bazuwaaruah Dalugo, and Professor James Sefah Dziasah—from continuing any inquiries related to the petitions filed against her.

She is also seeking a specific order to prevent Justices Pwamang and Adibu-Asiedu from presiding over or participating in any of the committee's deliberations.

Most notably, Justice Torkornoo wants the Court to place an immediate hold on the execution of her suspension, which was issued by President Mahama under Article 146(10) of the Constitution.

Her legal team, Dame and Partners, argues that her suspension should not take effect while key constitutional questions remain unresolved.

The application is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court in the coming days.

Earlier on the same day, the Supreme Court dismissed two separate challenges to Justice Torkornoo’s suspension. In one case, private citizen Theodore Kofi Atta-Quartey filed an application contesting the suspension and investigative process. The Court, in a 4–1 majority decision, ruled the application was without merit and dismissed it.

A similar suit brought by the Centre for Citizenship, Constitutional and Electoral Systems (CenCES) also faced a 4–1 rejection. CenCES had argued that the President’s action violated constitutional provisions and sought to halt the work of the investigative committee.

The five-member panel of the Supreme Court—Justices Paul Baffoe-Bonnie (presiding), Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu, Yonny Kulendi, Henry Anthony Kwofie, and Yaw Asare Darko—upheld the President’s authority to suspend the Chief Justice. Justice Yaw Asare Darko was the lone dissenter in both rulings.

Despite the Court’s earlier decisions, Justice Torkornoo’s own application now places the legality of her suspension and the mandate of the investigative committee squarely before the apex court for fresh judicial scrutiny.