Gertrude Araba Esabaa Torkornoo, a candidate for chief justice, claims that she is on the legal side of the LGBTQ+ issues.
The Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill was brought before Parliament. The Bill, which many people view as being anti-LGBTQ+, aims to make homosexuality and related behaviors illegal.
When asked about her views on LGBTQ+, the upcoming Chief Justice of Ghana noted, “I think I have made it clear that when I walk into the court, all my thoughts are soaked in the law”,when she appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Friday, May 26.
Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, who comes from Winneba in the Central Region, will follow Justices Georgina Theodora Wood and Sophia Akuffo as the third female Chief Justice in Ghana’s history.
When Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah reached the obligatory retirement age of 70 for justices of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court on May 24, 2023, he stepped down as Chief Justice and will be succeeded by her.
If all is equal, Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo of Ghana’s Supreme Court will succeed Justice Kwesi Anin-Yeboah. This will be the outcome, after she was interrogated by committee members nonstop for more than four hours.
Don’t Give Monies To People To Be Brought To Judges
The Chief Justice nominee, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo warned the public against giving money to specific people with the goal of swaying Judges.
She stressed that instead of getting to the designated judges, these payments frequently wind up in the coffers of those intermediaries.
Justice Torkornoo asserted that it is impossible to bribe judges during her examination by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Friday, May 26. She also asked the people to reject such notions. She urged anyone who believe they can influence judges not to give them money, calling them “judicial predators.”
“Don’t give money to people to be taken to judges. There is a whole market; we call it judicial predators. It’s a whole predatory group around our function and that is something that we constantly try to address in our study of ethics both for judges and staff.”
Justice Gertrude Torkornoo
Additionally, Justice Torkornoo denied allegations that the Supreme Court is biased when rendering decisions in political disputes. She clarified that a unanimous ruling by the court, shows that it was made impartially and according to the law.
“Whenever you encounter a unanimous decision, it tells you that the law is totally on the side of the position taken by the court, that every member of the court in fidelity to their judicial oath cannot take a different position. It tells you that, that is what the law is. So the only response is to learn from what the law says, it is not a matter of bias, it is a matter of the legal position.”
Justice Gertrude Torkornoo
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