Old Tafo MP, Ekow Vincent Assafuah, has expressed concern over what he calls major constitutional gaps that allowed for the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.
According to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmaker, the impeachment process revealed flaws in Ghana’s constitutional framework, where flimsy allegations and political interference were sufficient to unseat the head of the judiciary.
“The allegations that birthed this removal were flimsy at best, and laughable at worst. Travelling with her spouse, for instance, is hardly the ‘stated misbehaviour’ envisioned by Article 146(1). Yet such weak claims were enough to unseat a Chief Justice,” Assafuah noted.
He also criticized the impeachment committee’s composition under Article 146(6), which allows a majority of non-lawyers to decide technical legal issues.
“This arrangement has proven deeply problematic. In practice, it allows non-lawyers to hold the decisive majority on technical legal issues. Questions of admissibility, procedure, and law can effectively be settled by persons without the training to fully appreciate them,” he stressed.
According to Assafuah, the failure to address these constitutional flaws has made the judiciary vulnerable to executive overreach.
