{"id":10619,"date":"2025-04-23T09:31:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/?p=10619"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:31:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:31:18","slug":"minority-condemns-mahamas-suspension-of-chief-justice-as-judicial-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/?p=10619","title":{"rendered":"Minority condemns Mahama\u2019s suspension of Chief Justice as \u2018judicial coup\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minority has condemned the actions of President John Mahama on the suspension of the Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo.<\/p>\n

President John Mahama suspended the Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo on Tuesday, April 22.<\/p>\n

This follows the establishment of a committee to investigate petitions against the top judicial official.<\/p>\n

The move, announced in a statement from the Presidency, is in compliance with constitutional provisions and follows consultations with the Council of State.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued by the Minority in Parliament, the suspension was denounced as an affront to due process and the rule of law.<\/p>\n

According to the statement, the timing of the suspension \u2013 while the constitutionality of the process is yet to be determined by the Court demonstrates a reckless disregard for judicial independence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is judicial overreach of the highest order, a textbook case of executive interference,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

Tap to read statement<\/a><\/p>\n

It draws comparisons to the 1963 incident when President Kwame Nkrumah dismissed Chief Justice Sir Arku Korsah for ruling against his government.<\/p>\n

The Minority insisted that the decision to suspend the Chief Justice represented a deliberate political move rather than a legitimate attempt at accountability, accusing President Mahama of seeking to exert political control over the judiciary.<\/p>\n

Political Vendetta or Judicial Reform?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Critics claim that Mahama\u2019s actions align with his controversial statements made in Akosombo in 2023, where he hinted at his intention to “rebalance” the judiciary by appointing judges sympathetic to the National Democratic Congress (NDC).<\/p>\n

The Minority in Parliament called this a politically motivated “witch-hunt” to appoint NDC-aligned judges, further undermining the judiciary\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is neither good governance nor a credible attempt to reset the judiciary \u2013 it is tyranny,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cThe people of Ghana will not tolerate the subversion of judicial independence for partisan gain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resistance to Further Executive Interference<\/strong><\/p>\n

The statement from the Minority emphasised that any further attempts to harass, intimidate, or unlawfully remove the Chief Justice would face \u201cfierce legal and public resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group pledged to challenge any moves to pack the judiciary with politically compliant judges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not stand idly by while the judiciary is turned into an appendage of the Executive,\u201d they declared.<\/p>\n

Call for Reinstatement and Constitutional Upholding<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Minority further called for the immediate reinstatement of Chief Justice Torkornoo, pending the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling on the legal challenges to her suspension.<\/p>\n

They also demanded a halt to all proceedings aimed at removing the Chief Justice until the judiciary has conclusively ruled on the constitutionality of the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe integrity of Ghana\u2019s judiciary is non-negotiable,\u201d they stated, pledging to vigorously oppose any attempts to politicise the courts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Minority has condemned the actions of President John Mahama on the suspension of the Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo. President John Mahama suspended the Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo on Tuesday, April 22. This follows the establishment of a committee to investigate petitions against the top judicial official. The move, announced in a statement from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2327,3401,318,3061],"class_list":["post-10619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","tag-chief-justice","tag-gertrude-torkornoo","tag-national-democratic-congress-ndc","tag-president-john-mahama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10622,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10619\/revisions\/10622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}