Sekou Nkrumah has expressed concerns about what he describes as troubling constitutional breaches in the removal of former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.
Speaking on The Last Word on Asaase Radio, the son of Ghana’s first president warned that the process exposed the dangers of excessive presidential power.
“There’s just too much power given and it does not sit well in a multiparty system of democracy,” Nkrumah said, adding that the recent development raises difficult questions about the balance of power in Ghana’s political system.
His concerns echo those of Justice Torkornoo herself, who in a letter described the process as unconstitutional.
“My deepest concern is the breaches of the Constitution that the process from beginning to end was subjected to,” she wrote, cautioning that if independent bodies can be removed through such maneuvers, “our democracy is not worth the description.”
In a related development, Lawyer Alex Gyamfi has defended Justice Torkornoo’s decision to seek a judicial review of her removal, emphasizing that she is acting within her constitutional rights.
“In a constitutional democracy, every action of government and its agencies can be questioned.
“That is why we call it the rule of law, because the law is deemed to be supreme and everybody is subject to it,” he explained on the same platform.
Gyamfi argued that the former Chief Justice is entitled to challenge her removal in court, describing the matter as an important test for Ghana’s legal system.
“The Chief Justice is exercising her rights conferred by the constitution and she is entitled to go to court to seek a review,” he said, noting that the case also offers a valuable learning opportunity for legal practitioners across the country.
