Dissolve Chief Justice committee over dinner meeting between judges and lawyer – Mahama petitioned

A Ghanaian citizen, Alfred Ababio Kumi, has petitioned the President of the Republic, John Dramani Mahama, to dissolve the five-member committee he has set up to investigate some three petitions submitted against the Chief Justice of the Republic, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo.

Chief Justice Torkornoo’s suspension was announced after the president, on the advice of the Council of State, found that a prima facie case had been established against her. She was suspended on 22 April 2025, pending the results of an investigation.

In the copy of the petition seen by Asaase News, dated Monday 19 May 2025 and received at the Office of the President at roughly 4.13pm the same day, the petitioner sets out the reason for his plea.

He states that two members of the committee, Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang (the committee chairman), Justice Samuel Adibu-Asiedu (a member of the committee) in the company of another Supreme Court judge, Justice Yonny Kulendi, were spotted having dinner with Thaddeus Sory, a lawyer who is representing one of the petitioners

The petitioner’s case

The petitioner, Alfred Ababio Kumi, alleges that the evening after the first sitting of the committee on Thursday 15 May 2025, “between the hours of 7.30 and 8.30pm, Justices Gabriel Pwamang and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, together with Justice Yonny Kulendi of the Supreme Court of Ghana, were seen having dinner with the counsel for one of the petitioners before the committee, Mr Thaddeus Sory, at the Santoku Restaurant, located at Villagio, Airport Residential Area, Accra.

“The strange meeting of the four persons who are keenly interested in and have played, and indeed continue to play, critical roles initiated in the processes for the removal of the Chief Justice excited the curiosity of some persons in the restaurant. Indeed, they were overheard discussing matters relating to the petition,” the petition reads in part. “Respectfully, the record of the four – Justices Pwamang, Kulendi, Asiedu and lawyer Thaddeus Sory’s – presence at the restaurant and meeting can easily be verified and confirmed.

“The above development is of grave worry as proceedings for the removal of the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana are a solemn process and should not lend itself to manipulation by any person or authority. The meeting between Justices Pwamang, Kulendi and Asiedu with Thaddeus Sory clearly has destroyed the integrity of the process and reduced public confidence in the process so far,” Ababio Kumi’s petition states.

“Both Justices Asiedu and Pwamang are panel members set up to inquire into the petition. They have no business meeting with counsel for one of the petitioners outside working hours at an unofficial place – a restaurant, to have a discussion. This is more serious when the record shows that Justice Pwamang gave judgments in favour of the same petitioner, Daniel Ofori, represented by the same counsel, Thaddeus Sory, in the Supreme Court.

“Their conduct is deplorable and the most unbecoming of justices occupying the highest court in Ghana. It has the tendency to show that the whole process, quite unfortunately, is a sham.

“In the interest of preserving the integrity of the process, I hereby petition you for an immediate dissolution of the committee, as its ability to dispense justice is clearly compromised,” the petitioner concludes.

Background

The Chief Justice of the Republic, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, was suspended from office by President John Dramani Mahama on 22 April 2025 through a statement issued by the Minister in charge of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu (MP).

The president’s actions, which are said to be grounded in Article 146 (10) of the 1992 constitution, were inspired primarily by three petitions that the president received seeking the removal of the Chief Justice from office.

A group calling itself Shining Stars of Ghana submitted the first petition to the president on 14 February 2025. Kingsley Agyei, who describes himself as the chairman and convenor of the Shining Stars of Ghana, signed the document.

The second petition, presented to the president by Daniel Ofori, is dated Monday 17 March 2025. The petitioner essentially states 21 allegations of misbehaviour and four allegations of incompetence, all of which relate to the Chief Justice’s discharge of her administrative roles and functions as head of the judiciary.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ayamga Yakubu Akolgo (Esq), a senior police officer in the Ghana Police Service stationed at the national Police Headquarters in Accra, was the third and final petitioner to submit a petition to the president for the removal of the Chief Justice from office. Akolgo’s submission was also made on 14 February 2025.

Click on the link to read the petitions submitted to the president:

Petition against judges sitting on the Chief Justice probe case

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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