It now remains a fact that every Chief Justice who served from the Mills era through to President Akufo-Addo has been targets of an impeachment petition, with Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood being the subject of most. While the petitioners cannot be faulted for lack of effort, their wishes have yet to materialize.
Transitioning from colonialism to independence and eventually becoming a republic, Ghana’s justice system has been a democratic crucible, shaping the rule of law, whose cardinal tenet, equality, has been tested on some chief justices, especially in the Fourth Republic.
With just hours to the end of his tenure on 6th January, 2025, President Akufo-Addo dismissed a petition against Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, the latest among a chronicle of Chief Justices whose constitutional mandates were tested by the invocation of Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution.
Article 146 allows for the removal of Justices of the Superior Courts, including the Chief Justice. The procedure as stipulated in clause six (6) to ten (10) outlines that a petition shall first be presented to the President, who, in consultation with the Council of State, determines if there is a prima facie case. If any, a five-member committee is constituted to look into the matter and shall come out with recommendations upon which the president is bound to act.
Below is a chronicle of Chief Justices whom presidents were petitioned to impeach and the outcome.
Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo
Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, best known as Kweku Azar, submitted a petition to the president on 17th December 2024, seeking the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkonoo, which per the response of the president on 6th January, 2024 failed to disclose a prima facie case.
The petition was hinged on grounds of stated misbehavior and incompetence, which captured the Chief Justice’s request for the appointment of five justices to the Supreme Court and alleged arbitrary reconstitution of panels and transfer of judges violating Article 144(2) of the Constitution.
In the president’s response, he stated that the petitioner failed to substantiate his claims with evidence and the reconstitution of the panel was in line with the constitution. Also, the publication of the petition in the media undermined the solemnity and the principles enshrined to safeguard judicial independence, stipulated in Article 146 (8) of the 1992 constitution.
Chief Justice Kwesi Anin Yeboah
ASEPA (Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability) petitioned President Akufo Addo for the removal of Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah over allegations of a $5 million bribe by lawyer Akwasi Afrifa for judgment to be delivered in favor of his client, Ogyeedom Obranu Kwesi Atta IV, in breach of Article 218(a) and (e) of the 1992 Constitution.
Timelines of the petition
July 12, 2021: ASEPA petitioned CHRAJ to investigate the Chief Justice.
July 13, 2021: ASEPA submitted a petition to the Presidency for the Chief Justice’s removal.
July 26, 2021: The President acknowledged receipt of the petition.
August 24, 2021 [Dismissal Date]: The President subsequently dismissed the petition.
Response: The President dismissed ASEPA’s petition as unwarranted and unmeritorious, stating it relied on hearsay without concrete evidence. The president noted that the allegations were based solely on claims made by lawyer Afrifa, not ASEPA or any credible direct evidence.
Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo
Mensah Thompson, Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo for the removal of Chief Justice Sophia Akufo on grounds of:
1. Alleged incompetence in managing the judiciary.
2. Misconduct relating to Ghana’s non-compliance with rulings from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) after the Supreme Court rejected AfCHPR’s order in 2017 to halt the seizure of businessman Alfred Woyome’s properties and allowed proceeding for the repayment of Woyome’s debt, which Mensah Thompson argues contravened Ghana’s international treaty obligations under Articles 40, 73, and 75 of the 1992 Constitution and the Vienna Convention.
Mensah Thompson filed the petition on 12 November 2018, but the president never responded to it until he left office.
Georgina Theodora Wood
Chief Justice Georgina Wood remains the most attacked and controversial among the 15 justices who have acceded to the highest office in the judiciary. Over her ten-year stint in office, from 2007 to 2017, she had the distinct honor of swearing in three presidents of the Fourth Republic: John Evans Atta Mills, John Dramani Mahama, and Nana Akufo Addo.
During her time in the Judiciary’s top job, she suffered a barrage of impeachment petitions. They were rife during Mills’ era when the CJ considered resigning; however, Professor Mills at the time, per close aide to the president, Koku Anyidoho, refused to pay heed to the petitions.
A record of about five petitions were submitted to initiate her impeachment, three of which came during the Mills administration.
They are:
1. Ernest Obiri Lartey – 10th February, 2017 (Under Akufo-Addo)
2. Retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Francis Y. Kpegah – 2013 (Under President Mahama)
3. Rev. Kwarteng Amaning, Executive Secretary of the Gospel Evangelical Crusaders and Providence Foundation – 3rd September, 2010 (Under President Mills)
4. Retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Francis Y. Kpegah – 2010 (Under President Mills)
5. La Home and Abroad – 2009 (Under president Mills)
On 10th February, 2017, one professional driver by the name of Ernest Obiri Lartey petitioned President Akufo-Addo to remove Chief Justice Georgina Wood on the basis of stated misbehavior and incompetence:
A. STATED MISBEHAVIOR
The petition charged the Chief Justice with violating Article 146 (8) of the 1992 constitution after she published contents of the petition by Tiger Eye PI to her and the President over alleged bribery in justice delivery in the media prior to the response of the embattled thirty-four (34) judges and magistrates. Tiger Eye PI also screened the exposé on 22nd and 23rd September 2015 before the judges could respond.
b. The petitioner also charged the Chief Justice with ex parte communication contrary to Rule 3(7) and 4(a) of the Code of Conduct for Judges and Magistrates of Ghana (CCJMG). According to the diver, a 2-hour discussion ensued between Tiger Eye PI and the Chief Justice before they officially submitted the petition, which violates the codes of conduct for judges, which can constitute her removal from office. The grounds of incompetence suggested that her non-compliance with Article 146 (8) and her defense of slipping in 34 letters without identifying the right petitioner constituted gross incompetence.
2. A group called Citizens of La Home and Abroad petitioned President John Evans Atta Mills in 2009 to suspend Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood over unsatisfactory handling of requests by the Ga-Dangme groups to return their lands acquired by the government. Tensions had heightened over the CJ acquiring state land, which eventually led her to give up interest in the land.
3. Rev. Kwarteng Amaning, Executive Secretary of the Gospel Evangelical Crusaders and Providence Foundation, petitioned President Mills on 3rd September, 2010, over allegations of the Chief Justice’s partisanship in favor of the NPP and exhibiting unprofessionalism as the head of the bench during the 2008 election run-off. This came on the back of the Chief Justice ordering a FastTrack Court to hear a lawsuit filed by the NPP on January 1, a public holiday, which was only reserved for a president under Ghana’s constitution.
4. Retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Francis Y. Kpegah, petitioned President Mahama in 2013 to remove Chief Justice Georgina Wood over claims of abusing her discretionary powers in transferring and promoting judges.
In all the instances explained above, all the Chief Justices escaped impeachment. The procedure for removing the nation’s top judge will remain. However, the last two decades have taught us that to get these distinguished individuals out of the job, a very high bar must be met. And successive presidents have been willing to keep it high.
Writer’s email: richmondkwesiampofo@gmail.com
