The Member of Parliament for Ketu North, Hon. Eric Edem Agbana, has stated that Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo’s request for public hearings on petitions seeking her removal will be disregarded.
Speaking on the Good Morning Ghana show on Metro TV on Friday, May 23, Hon. Edem Agbana asserted that the CJ and her supporters, as well as her lawyer, Godfred Yeboah Dame, are trying to lure the government into breaching the constitution and will not succeed.
“Godfred Dame and the Chief Justice are calling for a public hearing so that if the government obliged, they would bring another petition saying that the process has breached the provision provided in the constitution, but they will not succeed.”
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His comments follow a recent petition submitted by the suspended Chief Justice, Gertrude Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, in which she requested, among other things, that the hearings for her removal petitions be conducted publicly, rather than in camera. Additionally, she sought the recusal of certain members of the investigative committee, citing various grounds.
Meanwhile, Hon. Edem Agbana is of the belief that the call is only targeted at deceiving the government into breaching the constitution because the constitution says that the hearing must be done in camera or in private.
According to him, the chief justice is aware that her request will be unsuccessful but is merely attempting to delay the process. He emphasized that the law must be upheld, regardless of her efforts.
“What do you think they are doing? They are only buying time, but it will not work.”
“I have heard and watched that video several times, and I heard the Chief Justice saying that the law is the law, and she said this during the reign of the NPP while she was in position as the Chief Justice. The same person who believes that the law is the law suddenly begins to ask that certain provisions of the law be scrapped because of her interest? Is she trying to say that the law is no longer the law?” He questioned.
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Meanwhile, the CJ, through her lawyer, the former Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has filed an application at the Supreme Court seeking to bar two of its justices—Gabriel Scott Pwamang, chairman of the probing committee, and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu—from taking part in the proceedings, alleging that the two justices met privately with a lawyer connected to the matter currently before a committee of inquiry.
The writ names Justices Gabriel Scott Pwamang, Major Flora Bazwaanura Dalugo, Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo, and Professor James Sefah Dzisah as respondents.
According to the petition, Justice Torkornoo is requesting the Supreme Court to bar the committee, composed of the second to sixth defendants, from continuing any proceedings or actions relating to the inquiry into the three petitions seeking her removal.
The petition presented by the Chief Justice is the 5th petition presented by various individuals and groups seeking to prevent the possible removal of the CJ, who has been on suspension following the determination of a prima facie case against her.
