Mahama Ayariga, the majority leader in parliament has revealed that the government will introduce new rules on the removal of Superior Court Justices which will also include the Chief Justice.
According to Mahama Ayariga, the government is committed to strengthening judicial independence and also ensuring mechanisms exist to hold judges accountable within a fair and transparent framework.
He added that the legal reforms will include the introduction of detailed procedures for the removal of judges of the Supreme Court and other superior courts.
Speaking in Parliament on May 27 the first sitting after the House reconvened from recess, Mahama Ayariga stated, “The Attorney General will also introduce several subsidiary legislation, including the Corporate Insolvency and Restructuring Regulations, Court of Appeal Rules, Economic and Organised Crime Office (Operations) Regulations, Economic and Organised Crime Office (Terms and Conditions of Service) Regulations, High Court (Civil Procedure) (Amendment) Rules, Interpretation Regulations, Judicial Service (Terms and Conditions of Service) Regulations, Legal Aid Commission Regulations, Supreme Court Rules and, very significantly, Removal from Office of Justices of the Supreme Court Rules”.
“President John Dramani Mahama is determined to fast-track legislative reforms to strengthen our institutions of governance and further entrench our democracy”.
“The president is committed to legislative clarity with transparency when it comes to the constitutional mechanics of the removal of justices of the superior courts”, he added.
The government comes in the wake of the ongoing brouhaha surrounding the suspended Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo who is facing a prima facie case.
Meanwhile, the Suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo in a supplementary affidavit at the Supreme Court quizzed how she can defend herself when she does not even know what she is defending against.
According to a supplementary affidavit filed with the Supreme Court as part of her legal challenge Chief Justice Torkornoo alleges violations of her fundamental rights in the ongoing impeachment proceedings against her.
She revealed that what she is going through at the hands of the Committee’s investigating petitions for her removal is not even meted out to persons accused of treason.
CJ Torkornoo asserted that she has not been informed of the legal basis on which a prima facie case was determined, nor of the specific allegations she is required to answer.
“How can I defend myself when I don’t even know what I’m defending against?” she asked.
In her supplementary affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Monday, May 26, 2025, the Chief Justice outlined stated, “Other developments, like the denial of access into the hearing room for my husband and children, searches on my body, denial of access to telephones and laptops for myself and my lawyers (even though counsel for petitioners have access to their phones and laptops), and the conduct of the hearing itself in a high-security zone at the premises of the Castle, Osu, show a deliberate effort to subject me to mental torture and degrading treatment in violation of my fundamental rights”.
According to CJ Torkornoo, “They want to break me. What I am going through is not even meted out to persons accused of treason”
