Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has nominated Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo as the new Chief Justice.
This comes following the retirement of Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah from the bench on 24 May 2023.
President Akufo-Addo in a letter to the Council of State on Tuesday, 25 April 2023, said the nomination of Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo is to avoid any vacuum.
“Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah is due to retire from the bench on 24 May 2023, his seventieth birthday. To avoid a vacuum and ensure that a new Chief Justice is immediately in office after his retirement”
“I have decided to begin the process of appointment now. Article 144 (1) of the constitution, which governs the appointment of a Chief Justice, requires that I, first consult with the council of state before seeking the approval of Parliament,” the letter from the president stated.
It added, “Consequently, I am nominating Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo, a member of the Supreme Court, as the new Chief Justice. I hereby enclose a copy of her curriculum vitae for your attention.”
If approved Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo will be the third female Chief Justice in Ghana’s fourth Republican history.
Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo is currently a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana and the supervising judge of the Commercial Courts in Ghana.
She joined Ghana’s judiciary in 2004 as a Justice of the High Court of Ghana. In October 2012, she was promoted to the Court of Appeal and rose to become a Justice of the Supreme Court, the apex court, in 2019.
She studied Law & Sociology for her first degree at the University of Ghana and completed the Professional course in law at the Ghana School of Law in 1986. She holds an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from Golden Gate University, San Francisco, USA and a Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in International Law and Organizations from the then International Institute of Social Studies, the Hague, Netherlands.
Read the full letter on her nomination below:
