Franklin Cudjoe, President of IMANI Africa, has urged suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo to discontinue her legal challenge against a presidential committee probing her conduct, following the Supreme Court’s dismissal of her injunction application.
The embattled Chief Justice had sought to halt the work of the five-member committee investigating petitions for her removal. However, on Wednesday, May 28, the apex court ruled against her interlocutory application, clearing the way for the inquiry to proceed.
Reacting to the development during an appearance on Channel One TV’s The Big Issue on Saturday, Mr Cudjoe stated plainly that Justice Torkornoo had reached the end of the road in her fight.
“At this juncture, my honest view is that she should just give up, because the way things are going, there’s no way she will sail through,” he said. “She will be remembered in history that she fought. Maybe that is what she wants.”
Justice Torkornoo’s legal team had filed the injunction to prevent the committee—comprising Justices Gabriel Scott Pwamang and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo, Major Flora Bazuwaaruah Dalugo, and Professor James Sefah Dziasah—from proceeding until her substantive case had been heard. That request has now been definitively quashed.
Mr Cudjoe criticised what he described as a misplaced sense of entitlement in the Chief Justice’s recent requests, including her plea for her husband and daughter to be allowed to attend the proceedings. He suggested that this signalled a disconnect from the seriousness of the process unfolding before her.
“It’s a bit pitiful and sad for her to say that her husband and daughter should be allowed in. She should have negotiated with the committee. If these basic things are denied, you should know that you are persona non grata already—you have overstayed your welcome,” he said.
He noted that the entire process, though harsh, is grounded in constitutional law and should be accepted as such.
“As brutal as the process may be, it is the law. The law is the law,” he added firmly.
Justice Torkornoo remains suspended as the committee—established by President John Dramani Mahama—continues to assess the petitions brought against her. The specifics of the allegations remain under wraps, but the inquiry has already become one of the most politically charged judicial investigations in recent Ghanaian history.
Cudjoe’s comments add to a growing chorus of voices urging the suspended Chief Justice to bow out gracefully. For many observers, her continued legal wrangling may further complicate an already fraught process, especially after the Supreme Court’s clear ruling.
While the Chief Justice’s next steps remain uncertain, the message from the policy think tank head was clear: dignity may lie not in victory, but in knowing when to step away.
