Stopping the Chief Judge of Ghana is a “abuse of power,” says the opposition

Opposition MPs in Ghana have fiercely condemned the country’s chief judge, accusing President John Mahama of trying to “pack the courts” with judges who are sympathetic to the ruling party, NDC.

Gertrude Torkornoo was removed from his post on Wednesday – the first time the referee was stopped in the history of the country.

The lawsuit was taken after the filed three petitions that were charged against G -Ja Torkornoo.

The content of the petitions has not been publicly disclosed and d -Torkorno is yet to comment openly on the subject.

Mahama supporters supported this move as a long overdue move to clean the judiciary.

But she was convicted by the opposition as “nothing but a cheeky coup, a reckless abuse of executive power, and a direct attack on the independence of Ghana’s judicial system,” the deputies said.

On Tuesday, the Presidency statement said that the chief judge was asked to retreat so that the allegations against her would be investigated.

After the suspension was announced, two more petitions were submitted against the d -Ja Torkornoo.

Former Prosecutor General Godfred Yboa Dama told the BBC that he thinks the suspension is a “complete sharand … the biggest attack on (the judiciary) in the history of the nation”.

Before the Torkornoo was terminated, the lawyers filed at least two lawsuits challenging the legality of the procedure used by the President.

By law, the president had to give copies of the Chief Judge’s petition before stopping it, which he initially failed to do. However, he later made them accessible to her.

The Caucut of Opposition MPs says that by stopping the Chief Judge before the Supreme Court, he has ruled on these court cases, Mahama has “violated” a proper process.

But some Ghanaks support this move to the president.

Dr. Tony Idio, the former Ghana ambassador to the Netherlands, told Joy News radio: “I think the president is protecting the judicial system in Ghana from the actions of a person who does not behave in a way to keep it there … If there is a stink in the room you have to put in the fresh air.”

Some accuse the Supreme Court of Mrs. Torcorno of being available with former President Nana Akufo-Addo and his party in several high-ranking political cases.

For example, last year judges ruled that The speaker’s decision to announce four deputies that are free is unconstitutional.

Ghana had 15 main judges whose work involved the supervision of justice in the country.

Those who came before D -Ja Torkornoo to end their term by retiring – no one is stopped or permanently removed.

The main judges can only be remedied from office on a few grounds, such as incompetence or behavior.

Mrs. Torkornoo is Ghana’s third female judge and was nominated in 2023 by Akufo-Addo.

According to the Reuters Agency, Mrs. Torkornoo was a request to eliminate earlier this year when Akufo-Addo stated that a request for dismissal had “several shortcomings”.

A five-member committee has already been set up to investigate the current allegations against Mrs. Torkornoo.