President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has criticised the financial misconduct that led to the removal of former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, arguing that the severity of her actions could have warranted imprisonment in other jurisdictions.
Appearing on Channel One TV on Saturday, September 6, he described the misconduct as an unwarranted imprest and rejected claims that finance officers should have guided the former Chief Justice.
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“She was the head of the judiciary; she knows the law. In other countries, she would have been in jail by now,” he said.
His remarks follow President John Dramani Mahama’s September 1 decision to dismiss Justice Torkornoo, acting on the binding recommendation of an Article 146 Committee. The committee found that she improperly billed the Judicial Service for personal trips in 2023—one to Tanzania with her husband and another to the United States with her daughter. Both family members also received per diem allowances, which the report condemned as a “reckless dissipation of public funds” and “unjustifiable in law or policy.”
Franklin Cudjoe urged Ghanaians to resist politicising the controversy, stressing that accountability should transcend partisanship.
The Presidency confirmed Justice Torkornoo’s removal in a statement issued by Government Spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu, noting that President Mahama was constitutionally bound under Article 146(9) to act on the committee’s findings.