Former CJ Torkonoo files suit to halt Justice Baffoe-Bonnie’s vetting, appointment as Chief Justice
By DL News
Published
2 min read
The lawsuit also asks the court to invalidate all proceedings of the Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang Committee, which was constituted under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution to examine petitions calling for her removal from office.
Former Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkonoo has initiated a legal action at the High Court in Accra seeking to suspend the vetting and subsequent appointment of Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie as Ghana’s next Chief Justice.
The lawsuit also asks the court to invalidate all proceedings of the Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang Committee, which was constituted under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution to examine petitions calling for her removal from office.
In her statement of claim, Justice Torkonoo is requesting the court to set aside every action and decision taken by the committee and to declare the Presidential Warrant that removed her from office unlawful, null, and void.
The legal challenge comes as the Appointments Committee of Parliament prepares to vet Justice Baffoe-Bonnie, who has served as Acting Chief Justice since April 22, 2025, following Justice Torkonoo’s suspension.
Justice Torkonoo’s removal from office on September 1, 2025, by President John Dramani Mahama, stemmed from the findings of the Article 146 committee, which concluded that she had engaged in misconduct and stated misbehaviour in violation of her constitutional obligations.
The committee, established in consultation with the Council of State, reportedly found evidence of financial impropriety and breaches of administrative procedures, and subsequently recommended her dismissal, which the President endorsed.
In her application, the former Chief Justice argues that the investigative committee acted outside its constitutional mandate, rendering its proceedings unconstitutional and void.
She also contends that her removal violated procedural fairness and the principles of natural justice, insisting that the process leading to her dismissal was tainted by bias, irregularity, and lack of due process.
Justice Torkonoo is therefore urging the High Court to issue orders of certiorari and prohibition to nullify both the committee’s findings and the Presidential Warrant, as well as to restrain Parliament from proceeding with the vetting of Justice Baffoe-Bonnie until the matter is fully resolved.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie, a senior member of the Supreme Court, was formally nominated in September 2025 to assume the position of Chief Justice following Torkonoo’s removal.
His nomination marks a critical transition in Ghana’s judiciary, but the former Chief Justice’s lawsuit threatens to stall the process and could ignite a constitutional test case on the limits of presidential authority and judicial independence under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution.
Legal observers describe the unfolding case as one that could reshape the jurisprudence on the removal of superior court judges, particularly in defining the due process safeguards owed to a sitting Chief Justice.
