Letter to Traditional and Spiritual Leaders to Intervene in the Removal of the Suspended Chief Justice

Dear Nananoms especially the Ashantehene, Ga Mantse and others and our notably Spiritual Leaders especially Cardinal Peter Turkson, Papa Duncan Williams, the National Chief Imam and others.

I hope and pray you are all very fine.
Please I am a Senior Citizen who is working on a Better Ghana Agenda for the welfare of the younger and future generations. So, on the course of fighting for a Better Ghana, I have found that unity in diversity is an important ingredient for the promotion of peace, teamwork and progress for social cohesion and in effect national cohesion.

National Cohesion, has been regarded as essential for the nation to maintain it’s social, economic, and political stability. Thus it is very necessary for the maintenance of a strong sense of nationhood and pride, ingredients which are necessary for the success of the Resetting Agenda for a Better Ghana as being executed by His Excellency President JD Mahama.

So, I write to you to intervene in the case for the removal of the Chief Justice, a matter, since if we do not take care, would further divide the nation and thus detrimental to national cohesion. Please you are our respected traditional leaders who are regarded as the Conscience of the people and our reverend Religious Leaders who are working hard in the shaping of moral and ethical standards and as such the two institutions of Chieftaincy and Faith Base Organizations with you as prominent leaders, respectively.

So since your two Institutions are always working hard collectively for the promotion of harmony for successful nation building, should not sit down to allow a possible derailment of your very good effort to unite the Country behind a His Excellency nominated by God as the Leader of the Nation.

Please, I have come to this conclusion of a potential division in the nation and thus detrimental to national cohesion based on two areas. Firstly, the study of the travel expenses on the Office of and by heads of the three Coequal Arms of Government since the inception of the Fourth Republic revealed that the Chief Justice of Ghana, who is the head of the Judiciary Arm of Governments is not fairly treated.

So, the charge that the suspended Chief Justice her Ladyship Gertrude Torkonoo CJ, committed a state misconduct in connection with a lawful vacation policy as permissible by the Judicial Service Travel Policy hence within her Office entitlements is therefore unfounded and unreasonable. Especially when evidential material shows that she returned to the State an amount of 9,600.00 US Dollars out of 14,000.00 US Dollars advance allocated as her Office entitlement for the event. This demo she underspent the travel expenses allocation of 14,000.00 US Dollars advance to her by over fifty percent. This state of affairs clearly shows that her Ladyship Gertrude Torkonoo should be given a special commendation and celebrated as such for others to emulate the shining example exhibited by her. So this charge is unreasonable and not to be used to demoralize her.

The second area that contributed my conclusion that the CJ is not fairly treated and the threat of a further division in the nation, is related to a study of the Constitutional provisions for the removal of the CJ. The framers of the 1992 Constitution did their job by studying the political history of Ghana, and on the matter of removal of the CJ, they looked at Constitutional provisions of Article 128 of the 1979 Constitution of the Third Republic where Clause 7 states that the President is required to refer to the CJ in case of a petition for the removal of a Justice without the CJ determining whether is of prima faacie case and for an inquiry by the constitutional provision of a stipulated Committee to be established by the CJ. But for removal of the CJ, as in Clause 8 of the 1979 Constitution, the President Shall acting in consultation of the Council of State appoint a stipulated tribunal.

Clause 9 of Article 128 of the 1979 Constitution, states the relevant Tribunal shall inquire into the petition and recommend to the President whether the Justice or the CJ as the case may be, ought to be removed from Office on grounds of infirmity of body or mind or for stated misbehavior as required in Clause 4 of Article 128 of the 1979 Constitution as the case be. So the framers were silent on the determination of prima facie for the very good reason that it’s a fair, impartial and Independent Tribunal must info the prosecution team and defender that a prime facie has been determined by the Court, so that the prosecutor could carry out with prosecution of the case and for the defender to open his or her defence.

With the current 1992 Constitution, the framers stipulated at Clause 5 of Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution on the other hand that the President on receipt of a petition for the removal of a Justice shall refer it to the CJ for determination of prima facie when this is a prima facie case, then the CJ shall establish the Constitutional provided Committee to inquire into the petition. Thus unlike the 1979 Constitution, the 1992 Constitution granted the CJ the power to determine whether it is a prima facie case, and if so the CJ shall establish the Constitutional provided Committee to further inquire into the petition and submit its recommendation to the President through the CJ.

Please it should be noted that Clause 6 of Article 146 of the 1992 of the Constitution on the removal of the CJ, only dictated that where a petition is for the removal of the Chief Justice, the President shall acting in consultation with the Council of State appoint the stipulated Committee, hence a must do on receipt of a petition. No order for the determination of prima facie case before constituting the Committee or Tribunal.

Clause 10 of Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution stipulated that where a petition has been referred to a Committee under this Article in the case of the removal of the CJ, acting with the advice of the Council of State, the President is to suspend the CJ by a warrant signed by him. The Council of State role is therefore defined as supporting the President in coming out with the Committee and an advisory role if suspension of the CJ is necessary. It is therefore very strange that the public were told that the Council of State established a prima facie case by a majority vote or 30 members, as alleged by Lawyer Mr Sammy Gyamfi Esq.

You may read this by Google for 30 out of 31 Council of State Members agreed on prima facie case, thus the Council of State arrogated to itself powers not granted to it by the Constitution as granted to it, implying that the allegation by Lawyer Sammy Gyamfi tells that the Council of State usurped the powers of the Constitutional required Committee which is expected by the framers of the Constitution to be fair, impartial and Independent Committee to determine the petition is of a prima faacie case.

So our Respected Nananoms (Kings and Queens) of Ghana and our Venerated Faith Base Leaders, please considering the fact that, the Committee of Inquiry has the power of a High Court (or Tribunal as in Article 128 of the 1979 Constitution) and the fact that the Judgment may go either way and there is no option or right of appeal against the Judgment of the Committee, granted to the Suspended CJ, I consider it very imperative as part of the Better Ghana Agenda to humbly call on you intervene in the process for the suspended CJ.

His Excellency President Mahama, as President, is a Statesman par excellence since he has seen it all due to his occupation of all key appointments in the Country. He started a Corporate Staff, as Hon Assemblyman, Hon MP, Deputy Minister, Minister, Vice President, Acting President and President. He is now the first in the history of Ghana to be nominated by God by a Second coming of a former President as the President of Ghana. So I do not think he would like to spoil his legacy because History would have it that her tenure office saw the removal of a CJ, a Head of an Arm of Government namely the Judiciary.

By God, His Excellency President Mahama is supported by an equal Stateswoman par excellence as Vice President of Ghana, who is the first female VC of a prominent University in Ghana and the first female Vice President of Ghana, hence making her also the female trailblazer in the History of Ghana making Ghana proud of having a male and female who are two trailblazers at the helms of the Country and for first term in a Resetting Ghana Agenda. So History may not forgive her as female Vice President in whose tenure of Office as a Vice President saw the removal of a female person as the CJ, a Head of an Arm of Government namely the Judiciary.

So, please, your prompt intervention as requested would be seen as part of your support for the success of the Resetting Ghana Agenda of His Excellency President Mahama, who is just following his Constitutional duties. It would also make President Mahama and his VP, namely Her Excellency Professor Naana Opoku Agyeman to leave a very good legacy in the Fourth Republic by the end of tenure Office by 0700hrs on 07 January 2029. So please, use your very good offices to intervene by getting the revoking of the Suspension by the President as granted at Clause 11 of Article 146, so that you negotiate for the suspended CJ to exit from the Judiciary Arm of Government in a very noble way, thus with full benefits of a retired CJ.