Article 146 makes in-camera hearing mandatory, not optional — Prof Kwaku Azar on CJ Torkonoo’s plea for public trial

Legal scholar Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, has responded to suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Esaaba Torkonoo’s request for her removal process to be conducted publicly.

In a suit filed at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, May 21, Justice Torkonoo, through her lead counsel, Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, is seeking 16 reliefs.

These include an order to reverse her suspension and an interlocutory injunction to halt the work of the five-member committee investigating the petitions for her removal.

The suit also calls on the apex court to bar Justices Gabriel Scott Pwamang and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu from taking part in the proceedings, citing doubts about their impartiality.

Among the reliefs, the writ requests the court to affirm that the Chief Justice has the right to waive in-camera hearings under Article 146(6) of the Constitution.

“A declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of Articles 17(1) and (2), 19(13) and (14), 23, 146(7) and (8), 281(1) and 295(1) of the Constitution, a Chief Justice who is called upon to participate in a hearing conducted by a committee constituted under Article 146(6) to inquire into the merits of a petition seeking her removal can waive the privilege of in-camera proceedings,” part of the writ read.

Reacting in a social media post on Thursday, May 22, Prof Kwaku Azar argued that the law does not present the in-camera nature of such hearings as optional.

“The Chief Justice wants a declaration that she’s entitled to a public hearing and can waive in-camera proceedings.

“GOGO raises an eyebrow. But Article 146(8) says such proceedings ‘shall be held in camera.’ It’s not optional. It’s not a privilege. It’s a command,” he stated.