By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, Nov. 19, GNA- The ECOWAS Court of Justice has dismissed Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkonoo, the former Chief Justice’s application seeking an order to halt the work of the committee investigating her removal from office.
The Court on Wednesday through virtual hearing monitored by GNA ruled that the former Chief Justice failed to demonstrate “urgency” or claim of imminent and irreparable harm.
It said that between May 15, 2025, when the Article 146 Committee commenced its work, and July 4, 2025, when she filed her action, was three months apart, which defeated her own argument of urgency.
The Court said Mrs. Torkornoo’s failure to meet the requirement of urgency meant that it found no basis to assess the criteria for provisional measures.
The Court stated that the application did not satisfy the criteria for a grant of interim measures.
Meanwhile, the Court had also rejected a preliminary objection from the Government, arguing that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
According to the ruling, the application before the regional court concerns alleged violations of Justice Torkonoo’s human rights during the suspension and removal process, and does not seek to review or overturn any decision of a Ghanaian court.
The judges clarified that the sub judice principle applied only when a matter was awaiting judgment elsewhere not merely because two cases shared similar facts.
The Court said that it had jurisdiction to determine the substantive matter, having established the existence of a prima facie human rights claim.
The ECOWAS Court, therefore, declared the main application admissible and directed the Attorney General represented by Dr Justice Srem-Sai, the Deputy Attorney-General to file their defence in the substantive matter within 30 days.
Justice Torkornoo filed two applications at the ECOWAS for the enforcement of her human rights over what she said was a blatant disregard for her right to a fair hearing guaranteed by both Ghana’s 1992 constitution and the 1991 protocol of the Community Court of Justice.
The main application and the motion for provisional measures were filed and received at the Friday, July 42025.
Among others, the former Chief Justice contended in her application that the violation of her right to a fair hearing is grounded in the fact that she was not given a copy of either the supposed prima facie determination or the reasons for the making of a prima facie finding by the President before the President and the disciplinary committee formed, suspended her.
The application further posits that the President’s purported prima facie determination, as communicated in the letter to her dated April 22 2025, contained no reasons or justification for stating that a prima facie case had been established against her, and was entirely devoid of the elements of judicial or quasi-judicial reasoning expected under the Constitution.
“Fairness implies that the President, in making the prima facie determination with the Council of State, must specify the particular charges in respect of which a prima facie case is deemed to have been established and the reasons for the same.
“The President’s letter failed to do this. It simply stated that a prima facie has been found against the Applicant without more. To date, the Applicant does not know the reasons for the President saying that a prima facie case has been established against her.
“Yet a committee has been formed and is working. The President’s purported prima facie determination was no determination at all, as it failed to meet the standard of a judicious and objective assessment and, as such, was arbitrary and capricious,” she said.
She seeks “a declaration that the her suspension as the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana by the President of the Respondent’s State on April 22, 2025 violated the her human rights to a fair hearing guaranteed by Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights
She also wants “a declaration that the panel instituted by the Respondent (Ghana) to investigate and determine the allegations of misconduct against her was not constituted to guarantee its independence and impartiality and as such has violated her human right to fair hearing guaranteed by Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
“A declaration that the purported suspension of the Applicant as the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana by the President of the Respondent State on April 22, 2025, constitutes a violation of her human right to fair equitable and satisfactory conditions guaranteed by Article 15 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
She wants “A declaration that the purported suspension of the Applicant as the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana by the President of the Respondent State on 22 April 2025 has exposed her to public ridicule and odium locally and internationally and the said act constitutes a violation of her human right to dignity guaranteed by Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
” A declaration that by subjecting the Applicant to an illegal and unfair investigation and trial since April 2025, the Respondent has inflicted injuries on her professional standing and image, thereby ‘exposing her and her family to immeasurable public ridicule.”
GNA
Edited by Samuel Osei-Frempong