Ghana chief justice faraway from workplace after probe

[ad_1] Ghana's President John Mahama has fired the nation's Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo following a advice by an inquiry.

She had been on suspension since April after complaints had been lodged towards her in petitions by three people.

A president-appointed fee then discovered that "grounds of acknowledged misbehaviour... had been established and advisable her elimination from workplace", Mahama's workplace mentioned on Monday. Ms Torkornoo has dismissed the allegations as unfounded and politically motivated.

The presidency mentioned Mahama was required to behave in accordance with the committee's suggestions. However critics worry it units a worrying precedent and undermines judicial independence.

In its investigation, the panel reviewed 10,000 pages of proof from 13 witnesses on behalf of petitioner Daniel Ofori. The chief justice additionally testified and referred to as 12 different witnesses, together with consultants.

The 2 different petitions haven't been concluded.

Ms Torkornoo has additionally been eliminated as a choose of the Supreme Court docket following the committee's findings.

The inquiry discovered proof of illegal expenditure of public funds linked to her personal journey. Her partner and daughter had been reportedly paid allowances utilizing public funds throughout a non-public journey along with her husband to Tanzania in 2023 and one other to the US along with her daughter.

She additionally confronted allegations of interference in appointments by sidestepping procedures for appointing Supreme Court docket judges and abusing powers within the switch of a judiciary worker.

Ms Torkornoo, Ghana's third feminine chief justice, was nominated in 2023 by former President Nana Akufo-Addo.

She is the primary sitting chief justice to be investigated and dismissed.

Chief justices in Ghana take pleasure in safety of tenure - which means they'll solely be faraway from workplace on a number of grounds, which embody incompetence and misbehaviour.

Nonetheless, Ms Torkornoo's authorized representatives have dismissed the idea for her elimination.

In April, the opposition New Patriotic Celebration condemned her suspension, describing it as a political witch hunt and an try and undermine judicial independence.

A number of lawsuits difficult the elimination course of had been unsuccessful.

She had beforehand survived a elimination request underneath Akufo-Addo, who discovered the petition to have "a number of deficiencies".

She had been accused of bias in a few of her rulings by the present governing get together, which was then in opposition.

A former deputy legal professional basic, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, has criticised the choice to take away the chief justice saying it set a "harmful precedent", the AFP information company reviews.

"The petition that I learn confirmed no correct grounds to warrant her elimination… If the edge is what we learn within the petition, then I worry for the way forward for the judiciary," he's quoted as saying.

The judicial arm of presidency is an unbiased establishment, however the structure permits for checks to make sure a steadiness of energy.

Critics argue Ms Torkornoo's elimination may erode the independence of the judiciary and permit the manager department to exert undue affect over judges.

If the manager department is seen as having an excessive amount of energy over the judiciary, it may undermine public belief within the authorized system and create an uneven taking part in discipline for justice.

William Nyarko, govt director of the Africa Centre for Legislation and Accountability, has referred to as for a overview of the regulation governing the elimination of a chief justice.

He notes that Ghanaian regulation doesn't particularly outline what constitutes "acknowledged misbehaviour", leaving room for various interpretations and potential manipulation by the manager.