Torkornoo-led Supreme Court: Selective justice is injustice in my view

In my Open Letter to the Chief Justice (CJ) Gertrude Torkornoo dated 23. October 2024, I have pointed out some previous Supreme Court (SC) rulings that put the apex Court in a very bad light.

The reign of the CJ Anin-Yeboah(rtd) saw skewed or seemingly selective rulings including the most recent ruling by the Torkornoo-led SC to stay the ruling of Speaker Bagbin, which further buttressed the perception that the current SC is actively exercising selective justice to favor the governing NPP.

To further develop this selective justice tag on the SC going on, it will make easy understanding for me to itemize a few of such unfortunately biased rulings of the SC. The reign of previous CJ Anin-Yeboah (rtd) and that of CJ Torkornoo appear to many Ghanaians including me to be engaging in selective justice delivery by many are listed as follows.

Election petition in 2020

The SC earned the unenviable name of ‘Unanimous FC 7’ following the unanimous decision in the election petition in 2021 brought by former President Mahama of the NDC. The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensah was shielded from mounting the Witness box to testify why the multiple declarations of the Presidential results in 2020 and be cross-examined by Lawyers of the Petitioner. Ghanaians have put this unanimous judgment behind us since then and moved on but expect fair justice system for all.

‘Peaceful resting’ of passed Anti-LGBTQAI+ bill

Ghanaians clearly indicated that they want activities of the LGBTQAI+ in the country to be checked. Thus, they massively support the passage of the anti-LGBTQAI+ Bill by both the NPP and NDC in Parliament. But the Presidency refused to receive the passed Bill and asked Parliament to cease and desist from transmitting the Bill to President Akufo-Addo for signing it into law.

To further the passage of this anti-Gay Bill, an interlocutory injunction application was brought to the SC, and it has been resting peaceful till date. The life of the 8th Parliament is about to expire in about 2 months and this Bill may not see the light of day. Is the SC interested in protecting the wish of majority of Ghanaians in this LGBTQAI+ matter or interested in satisfying the interest of the NPP government?

Birth certificate ruling

Under the tenure of CJ Anin-Yeboah (rtd), it was also ruled by the SC that birth certificate, which is the primary document for determining citizenship, should not be a proof of citizenship in Ghana. The NPP was strongly against the use of birth certificate by Ghanaians to register for the 2020 general elections. The adverse ruling by the SC regarding the birth certificate also appeared to aid what the NPP’s regime wanted to be done then. This ruling of the SC has not yet passed ‘common sense test’ in my view.

North ruling

After the NDC Parliamentary Candidate for the Assin North Constituency, Hon. James Gyakye Quayson won the seat convincingly in the 2020 general elections, he was haunted by the NPP to remove him by using the SC to achieve their political goal of gaining absolute majority in Parliament.

The fundamental issue of denying the people of Assin North was not considered at all by the SC then. But in the case of the pending case on the 4 embattled MPs, CJ Torkornoo categorically stated that people in those affected Constituencies will be left without representation in Parliament. This leads to the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lipke & Lolobi (SALL) who were intentionally left out by the EC to have a representation in the 8th Parliament of Ghana.

SALL ruling

On the eve of the 2020 general elections, the EC stopped the people of SALL in the Oti Region. As a Region known to strongly support the NDC, this was done by the current EC to deprive the people of SALL to elect their MP to represent them in the 8th Parliament. The SC never acted with the urgency and fairness to ensure the SALL people were represented till date. This move was also in the interest of the governing NPP because of fear of losing their slimmest majority in the 8th Parliament.

SC’s ruling to stay Speaker’s information on 4 vacant seats in Parliament

Interestingly, when Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban S. K. Bagbin categorically ruled that the 4 seats in Parliament be vacated for breaching Article 97 1 (g) & (h), the Minority Leader now, Hon. Afenyo-Markin ran to the SC to stop the Speaker’s ruling in the matter. Surprisingly, the 5-member SC led by CJ Torkornoo acted with the speed of light to stay Speaker’s ruling to allow the affected MPs to take part in Parliamentary business, causing the ‘Parliamentary Tsunami’ we are witnessing now.

This is a clear show of bias toward the governing NPP Caucus and undermining the independent Arm of government, the Legislature as well as the NDC Majority Caucus in Parliament. In today’s majority ruling of the SC (5-2) in the matter led by the Torkornoo bench as unconstitutional, it is for Ghanaians to internalize the true meaning of Article 97 1(g) & (h) affecting the 4 MPs in Parliament.

Conclusion

In my above given 6 examples of rulings by the SC under the tenure of CJ Anin-Yeboah (rtd) and that of CJ Torkornoo, there appears to be consistently selective justice delivered, and this supports the assertion that the SC is not delivering justice enough but selective justice. This is highly worrying!

It is thus concerning that the reputable Mo Ibrahim Foundation underscored that there has been 30% drop in the impartiality of Ghana’s Judiciary. This independent body’s verdict on Ghana’s SC should be a great worry to the current

CJ Torkornoo and the bench at large. Isn’t it?

I strongly believe that fairness is key to justice delivery but not selective justice which breeds injustice in the end. Ghanaians deserve better from the Apex Court of the land. We must focus on the bigger goal of making Ghana a better country for Ghanaians. Let’s choose the right leadership in the upcoming general elections to clean up the mess of this disappointing Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led government.