Former Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo has submitted an application to the Supreme Court, requesting a review of the orders issued on May 28, 2026, concerning petitions seeking her removal from office.
In the Motion on Notice, filed under Article 133 of the 1992 Constitution and Rules 54, 55, and 56 of the Supreme Court Rules, Justice Torkornoo is urging the highest court to revisit its decision from the consolidated hearing of two related cases.
The application is backed by an affidavit in which she maintains that the May 28 orders resulted in a miscarriage of justice and violated her constitutional right to a fair hearing.
According to the affidavit, during case management, the Court observed that Justice Torkornoo had no legal representation after her lawyer, Godfred Yeboah Dame, formally withdrew from the case. The Court also noted the absence of the Attorney-General, a defendant in both matters.
Despite acknowledging that it could not assume she had been informed of the withdrawal by her counsel, the Court went ahead and issued several key substantive orders. These included directing the cases to proceed to hearing and final determination, accepting the memoranda of issues filed in both suits, consolidating the two actions into one, and adjourning the matter for judgment.
Justice Torkornoo argues that this sequence of decisions amounts to exceptional circumstances that justify a review by the Supreme Court.
The affidavit additionally claims that the Court’s instruction to serve her personally with the May 28 proceedings and related documents was not followed. Instead, on June 12, 2026, the Registrar served the documents at the office of her lawyer in a different case, Kwabena Adu-Kusi, who was out of the country at the time.
She further alleges that registry checks showed the Registrar had secured an ex parte order permitting service on the lawyer rather than on her directly.
