Legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has expressed mixed feelings about the removal of former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo, stating that while he agrees with the grounds for her removal, President John Dramani Mahama’s failure to give reasons for the decision weakens the credibility of the process.
“The fact that the removal is correct does not mean everything is correct.
The fact that we support her removal does not mean we support everything willingly. I support the grounds for her removal. I support the failure to give her reasons for the removal is wrong,” he said during an interview on TV3.
His remarks follow Gertrude Torkonoo’s recent legal action at the High Court challenging her removal as Chief Justice.
She is seeking to have the decision overturned and to halt the ongoing vetting of Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, who has been nominated to succeed her.
In her suit, Torkonoo is asking the court to issue “an order of certiorari bringing up into this court for the purpose of being quashed and for quashing, the proceedings of the 15th of May 2025 and the entire proceedings and outcomes of the Article 146 set up to consider petitions to remove the Applicant chaired by Pwamang JSC (‘Pwamang Committee’).”
She is also challenging “each and all of the three reasons/grounds given by the Pwamang Committee for recommending the removal of the Applicant from office as Chief Justice as stated in the letter of the Secretary to the President dated 1st September 2025.”
Furthermore, the former Chief Justice seeks to invalidate “the Presidential Warrant dated September 1, 2025 removing Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkonoo from office as Chief Justice and Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ghana.”
