I felt the same pain as in 1982 when judges were killed – Elizabeth Ohene reacts to CJ removal

Veteran journalist and former Minister of State, Elizabeth Ohene, has likened the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo by President John Dramani Mahama to one of Ghana’s darkest chapters — the 1982 abduction and murder of three judges and a military officer.

“Ohene revealed, “On Monday, September 1, 2025, when I heard that the President had removed the Chief Justice from office, I got the same aching, paralysing knot in my stomach that I had back in July 1982, when I heard about the killing of the judges and the military officer.”

Drawing parallels between the past and the present, she suggested that the NDC’s actions reflect a troubling pattern:

“I was hoping against hope that the NDC, coming from a background of people who kill judges, would not want to add the sacking of a Chief Justice to their profile.”

Ohene criticized what she perceives as a celebration rather than a sober acknowledgment of the gravity of the decision.

Referring to investigative committee member Daniel Domelevo’s cryptic post, she stated: “Hours before the presidency made the announcement, Domelevo posted, ‘The strife is over, the battle done.’

That hymn celebrates triumph — and indeed, they believe they have conquered.”