Dr. Kwaku Ansah Asah, a former Director of the Ghana School of Law, has attributed the recent controversy surrounding the petitions for the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Sackey Torkornoo to the actions of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Speaking on Morning Starr, Dr. Asah expressed his belief that the former president should have refrained from making a decision on the Chief Justice’s petition before leaving office.
“December last year, I would have wished that the former president hadn’t acted upon it at all and had left it in the capable hands of the incoming president, but that didn’t happen,” he stated.
He, however, acknowledged that if Akufo-Addo acted within the constitutional framework, his decision remains binding, meaning that the current administration cannot interfere.
“If the former president acted in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, whatever the outcome is binding, and the current Council of State will have to advise the president that it is a no-go area.”
On the other hand, Dr. Asah suggested that if the decision was not made in line with constitutional procedures, President John Mahama has the right to revisit the matter.
“However, if the president did not do that, nothing prevents the current president from reopening the matter. I am all for that because the moment we were informed that the former president had made the final determination on that petition, I said it was going to generate another ugly problem, and that is what we are facing now.”
