The Supreme Court has struck out an application filed by former Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo, which sought a review of an earlier ruling of the apex court. A seven-member panel, presided over by Justice Hafisata Amaleboba, ruled that the motion—filed on June 23, 2026—had not been properly withdrawn and therefore could not be entertained. After hearing submissions from counsel on Thursday, July 3, the court granted leave for the application to be withdrawn and subsequently ordered that the motion be struck out as withdrawn.
Counsel issue
During proceedings, Justice Amadu Tanko questioned the involvement of former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, who had earlier filed processes in the case. “Why are you in this matter? We take the view that Godfred Yeboah Dame was not formally discharged. His motion was not struck out,” Justice Tanko remarked. The court noted that, without a formal discharge of the previous counsel, both the notice of appointment filed by new counsel and the pending motion were procedurally defective. “In these circumstances, neither the motion nor the notice of appointment is properly before the court and cannot be granted,” the panel held.
Withdrawal application
Justice Henry Anthony Kwofie Ackah-Baofour, another member of the panel, noted that the appropriate procedure should have been an application for leave to withdraw rather than a mere notice of withdrawal. “It shouldn’t have been a notice of withdrawal but an application for leave to withdraw,” Justice Ackah-Baofour said. Responding to the court’s observations, counsel for Justice Torkornoo, Kwabena Adu Kusi, sought leave to formally withdraw the review application. The Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, indicated that the state did not oppose the request.
“We’re not opposed,” Dr Srem-Sai told the court.
The panel subsequently ruled that the withdrawn motion filed on June 23 is hereby struck out as withdrawn.
Background
Justice Torkornoo had filed the review application after the Supreme Court, by a 4-1 majority decision on May 28, 2026, dismissed her injunction application that sought to halt processes relating to petitions for her removal from office. In the earlier suit, she had asked the apex court to restrain the committee investigating the petitions and to suspend all related proceedings pending the determination of a substantive constitutional challenge. The review application sought to have that majority decision reconsidered by a differently constituted panel of the Supreme Court.
Source: Joselyn Kafui Nyadzi
