Petition for Justice Kulendi's removal dismissed

President John Dramani Mahama has thrown out a petition seeking the removal of Supreme Court judge Justice Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, after the Chief Justice advised that the complaint did not meet the constitutional threshold for further action.

The decision is contained in a letter dated 4 December 2025, signed by Dr Callistus Mahama, Secretary to the President, and addressed to the petitioner, Daniel Marfo Ofori-Atta.

The letter notes that Mr Ofori-Atta’s petition, originally dated 30 September 2025, was formally referred to the Chief Justice on 20 October 2025 in line with Article 146(3) of the 1992 Constitution, which requires the President to first establish whether a prima facie case has been made before any impeachment process can proceed.

In a response dated 2 December 2025, Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie advised the President that the petition did not disclose a prima facie case against Justice Kulendi.

According to the summary conveyed by the Presidency, the Chief Justice found that the petitioner’s own evidence undermined the allegations. The claims that Justice Kulendi abused his office to secure bail for his cousin, Richard Jakpa, and sought to improperly influence a criminal trial were said to be a distortion of the record and unsupported by the material placed before him.

On that basis, the Chief Justice concluded that the evidential standard under Article 146(3) had not been met and that there was no basis to trigger a formal removal process.

Dr Callistus Mahama’s letter stated that, in light of this advice, “no further steps are required” on the petition and that the matter is effectively at an end.

The Minister for Government Communication, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, later confirmed the development in a post on Facebook.

Mr Ofori-Atta’s petition to the President followed an earlier request to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.

Both petitions centred on allegations that Justice Kulendi and his cousin, Mr Jakpa, attempted to interfere with the Republic v Cassiel Ato Forson & 2 Others trial — a high-profile case in which Mr Jakpa, now Director of Operations at the National Security Secretariat, was the third accused.

The petitioner argued that Justice Kulendi’s alleged conduct amounted to obstruction of justice and “stated misbehaviour” within the meaning of the Constitution, and that he was therefore unfit to remain on the Supreme Court bench.

Justice Kulendi was appointed to the Supreme Court on 26 May 2020 by then President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, alongside Professor Henrietta J. A. N. Mensa-Bonsu, after both nominees were vetted by Parliament’s Appointments Committee on 11–12 May and subsequently approved by Parliament on 20 May 2020.