A former Legal Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Abraham Amaliba, has stated on authority that the Article 146 Committee that probed some three petitions that resulted in the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, dismissed one of the three petitions it probed.
The claim by Mr Amaliba contradicted the report of the Justice Gabriel Pwamang Committee that it dealt with only one petition by Daniel Ofori and did not consider the two other petitions at all.
The revelation of Mr. Amaliba, who is also the Director General of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), took his fellow panellists on the Prime Insight Show on Joy Prime by surprise on Saturday, 18 October 2025.
They questioned where he obtained his authoritative information, since the Justice Pwamang-led committee hearings were held in camera.
“I want to put on record that the committee not only reviewed the petitions sent to them by the businessman, which eventually removed the Chief Justice.
“I am aware that the petition that was forwarded to them by the Police Officer, ASP Ayamga [Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ayamga Yakubu Akolgo (Esq)], I think so, was actually looked into, and you know, his case was that he was locked up by the Chief Justice; he couldn’t find his record of proceedings.
“The committee came to the conclusion that that was not enough to, as it were, remove the Chief Justice. So, I want to put on record that that petition too was looked at, it is not only the other one,” Abraham Amaliba said.
Panellists’ complaint
The other panellists, after Mr Amaliba’s submissions, asked the host, Blessed Sogah, to question Mr Amaliba about how he came about the information he was sharing, and in his own words, on authority, since the Article 146 Committee sittings were in-camera, and he was certainly not a member of the committee.
The panellists included Kow Abaka Essuman, Counsel to former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; Wayde Ghanamannti, former CPP running mate; Dr Nana Yaw Adutwum, spokesperson on the economy of the newly formed United Party; and Professor Kwaku Ansa-Asare, former Director of the Ghana School of Law.
“If you are asking me these questions, how did I know? Then stop asking me questions about premeditated questions that are not in the minds of people,” the NDC’s former Director of Legal Affairs stated in response to the question posed to him.
“You are banned from asking me questions based on premeditated minds. If I can’t reveal this, how then can I reveal premeditated minds? So, I am saying that that thing happened, and the committee dismissed the Police Officers’ case,” Amaliba further emphasised.
Background
Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo was suspended from office by President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, and finally, removed her from office on Monday, September 1, 2025.
The president’s actions, which are said to be grounded in Article 146 (10) of the 1992 constitution, were primarily inspired by three petitions that the president received seeking the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo from office.
A group calling itself Shining Stars of Ghana submitted the first petition to the president on 14 February 2025. Kingsley Agyei, who describes himself as the chairman and convenor of the Shining Stars of Ghana, signed the petition.
The second petition, presented to the president by Daniel Ofori, is dated Monday, March 17, 2025.
The petitioner essentially states 21 allegations of misbehaviour and four allegations of incompetence, all of which relate to the Chief Justice’s discharge of her administrative roles and functions as head of the judiciary.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ayamga Yakubu Akolgo (Esq), a senior police officer in the Ghana Police Service stationed at the National Police Headquarters in Accra, is the third and final petitioner to submit a petition to the president for the removal of the Chief Justice from office.
Akolgo’s submission was also made on 14 February 2025.
The Article 146 Committee
Gabriel Scott Pwamang, a justice of the Supreme Court, chaired the five-member committee. Other members include Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, also a justice of the Supreme Court; Daniel Yaw Domelevo, the former auditor general; Major Flora Bazwaanura Dalugo of the Ghana Armed Forces; and Professor James Sefah Dzisah, an associate professor at the University of Ghana.
Before her removal, the Chief Justice was challenging her suspension at the ECOWAS Court, amid calls for her reinstatement from the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), the Bar Council of England and Wales, and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association.
All of these recommendations were either ignored or not responded to by the appointing authority.
By Wilberforce Asare
