Kow Essuman has defended former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, insisting she was ousted by President John Dramani Mahama for performing her constitutional and administrative duties.
Essuman explained that the reasons cited for her removal—breaching the Judicial Service’s travel policy, transferring staff, and suggesting judges for promotion—were unjustified and legally weak.
“She was removed for enjoying the benefits of the travel policy of the Judicial Service,” he said, adding that she neither authorised nor misused funds, as the Judicial Secretary was the spending officer, not the Chief Justice.
He clarified that the Auditor-General had found no wrongdoing in the alleged expenditures. “If the Auditor-General had disallowed and surcharged, it would have been to the Judicial Secretary and not the Chief Justice,” he noted in a Facebook page sighted by MyNewsGh.
On the issue of staff transfer, Essuman said the Chief Justice merely exercised her administrative authority to separate two staff members under investigation for tampering with court records in the Gyakye Quayson case, which was of high public interest.
“Is it now the case that every transfer of staff of the Judicial Service is a ground for removal of the Chief Justice?” he questioned.
The third accusation, that she suggested certain judges for promotion, was, according to Essuman, an act of professional recommendation that did not breach any constitutional provisions.
“Her suggestion to the President… did not make it to the President because of timing and not because she did not have the right to make those suggestions,” he said.
Essuman concluded that none of the cited reasons amounted to misconduct. “Where is the stated misbehaviour or incompetency?” he asked, maintaining that the decision to remove her was an affront to the independence of the judiciary.
