GBA President rejects 'selectivity' criticism

The President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Mrs Efua Ghartey, has dismissed claims that the association has been inconsistent and selective in its advocacy role in recent years.

Speaking at the opening of the 2025 annual conference of the GBA in Wa, Upper West Region, Mrs Ghartey mounted a strong defense of the Bar’s position on the ongoing process to remove Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.

She acknowledged that Article 146 of the Constitution grants the power to remove a Chief Justice but sharply criticized the procedure being followed.

Her response came after Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic A. Ayine, questioned the association’s approach, remarking that although the Bar had historically played a crucial role in helping the Supreme Court interpret and enforce the Constitution, “outside the courtroom, the advocacy of the Bar has lacked consistency.”

Addressing this concern, Mrs Ghartey argued that there are no comprehensive regulations governing Article 146 petitions, which creates serious flaws in the process. “In the absence of specific rules of procedure, the sketchy process potentially lends itself to arbitrariness and lack of fairness,” she stressed.

She warned that the absence of clear enactments governing the removal of such a high-ranking officer of the state should alarm every Ghanaian. “These rules should have been known to all and sundry before the commencement of the process as it greatly affected the standard to be met,” she said.

Mrs Ghartey described the current procedure as “an unfortunate precedent that lacks fairness, a situation that calls for redress if we are indeed custodians of justice.”

She further emphasized that the GBA’s constitution obliges members to safeguard judicial independence, a responsibility the association has always taken seriously. “This is a duty the association does not take lightly, and from time immemorial, the Bar has fiercely performed this duty,” she affirmed.