Professor Kwaku Asare, Democracy and Development Research Fellow at CDD-Ghana, has called for the removal of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Ms Gertrude Turkounou.
This came after Mr Turkoulnu submitted in a letter to President Akufo-Addo the names of five candidates for Supreme Court justices.
The Chief Justice cited heavy workload and large number of pending cases, among others, as reasons for his demand.
But despite support from a majority in Congress and other government officials, her actions have come under heavy criticism.
Explaining his reasons for calling for her removal from the position to the Upfront, Raymond Acquah, Prof. Asare said the Chief Justice’s actions were not backed by the Constitution.
According to him, this will also have a disastrous impact on the administration of justice in the country.
“The appointment, the letter, the proposal should never have been made in the first place. The other problem is that I wrote that letter to the president and the president said if the Chief Justice wants to do it, let him do it. So whenever I want to do something, the Chief Justice will also do it for me. There are a lot of problems with this.”
“It really pains me that Judge Tolkolnü has found herself in this dilemma. It is with a heavy heart that I say she should be removed. However, the Constitution is the document that governs us and if you violate the Constitution, I will strongly insist that you should be removed,” he stressed.
His comments came after Justice Gertrude Turkounou called on President Akufo-Addo to nominate five Supreme Court judges.
Among them is Justice Afia Serwa Asare Botwe, the current judge in the Ato Forson Ambulance Procurement Trial.
The other four judges are Justice Saira Pamela Koranteng, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, Justice Eric Kyei Baffor and Justice Angelina Mensah Homia.
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