The President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Efua Ghartey, has called on President to reconsider the suspension of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.
Speaking at the 2025 Martyrs' Day Celebration in Accra on Monday, June 30, 2025, Efua Ghartey asserted that the suspension of Justice Torkornoo "cannot stand because it sets a bad precedent." She indicated that it is the GBA's duty to protect judges, whom she described as "beacons of justice," from political interference. "The Ghana Bar Association, as well as other legal associations, both local and international, such as the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association, and Commonwealth Legal Education Association, as a matter of principle, have made their voices heard on the ongoing process for the removal of the Chief Justice of Ghana, Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Torkornoo," Ghartey stated. "Rising to the defence of the judiciary's independence is the mandate of the Ghana Bar Association, and this is not personality-driven… The Ghana Bar Association reiterates its call to insulate the judiciary from any interference whatsoever.
They stand for justice, and they should administer justice to all persons, including themselves," she emphasised. "In the spirit of reconciliation, all the various calls made for a reconsideration of the suspension of the Chief Justice, in the circumstances, as it sets a poor precedent, will not go unheeded," she added.
Justice Torkornoo was suspended by President after the president, in consultation with the Council of State, found a prima facie case against her based on three petitions for her removal.
