Barring any last minute changes, President Akufo-Addo will nominate Justice Gertrude Araba Esabaa Torkornoo, a justice of the Supreme Court, for approval by Parliament as the next Chief Justice, multiple sources have revealed.

According to the state-owned newspaper, the Council of State has already given the green light for Justice Torkornoo’s appointment.

It reports that the President would soon forward her name to Parliament for approval, in accordance with Article 144(1) of the 1992 Constitution.

When approved by Parliament, Justice Torkornoo will replace Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, who retires as Chief Justice on May 24, this year, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 for justices of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

When she gets the nod from Parliament, the 60-year-old Justice Torkornoo will become the third female Chief Justice in history, following the footsteps of Justices Georgina Theodora Wood and Sophia Akuffo.

Justice Torkornoo will be President Akufo-Addo’s third appointment to the office of Chief Justice since he assumed office in January 2017.

Biography

Gertrude Torkornoo is a Ghanaian judge and author. Formerly a judge of the Appeal Court, she was nominated Supreme Court Judge in November 2019 and vetted on 10 December 2019.

She was sworn in on 17 December 2019. Aside from law, she has authored books, plays, academic essays, articles, and presentations.
Gertrude Torkornoo hails from Winneba in the Central Region of Ghana. She was born on 11 September 1962 on Cape Coast. She had her secondary education at Wesley Girls’ High School for her ordinary level certificate and Achimota School for her advanced level certificate.

She had her tertiary education at the University of Ghana and completed the Ghana School of Law in 1986.

Prior to joining Fugar & Co., a law firm in Accra as a pupil associate, Torkornoo worked as a volunteer at the FIDA Legal Aid Service and had her internship at Nabarro Nathanson in London. She returned to the firm (Fugar & Co., a law firm) in 1994 to become its director.

In January 1997, she became a Managing Partner at Sozo Law Consult until May 2004 when she was appointed a Justice at the High Court of Ghana. She worked as a High Court judge until October 2012 when she was elevated to the Court of Appeal.

She had been a justice of the Court of Appeal until her nomination for the role of Supreme Court Judge in November 2019. She was sworn into office on 17 December 2019.

Prior to her appointment as Supreme Court justice, Torkornoo has held a number of leadership positions, some of which include; Supervising Judge of Commercial Courts, Chair of the Editorial Committee of Association of Magistrates and Judges, Chief Editor for the development of Judicial Ethics Training Manual, Vice-Chair of the E-Justice Steering/Oversight Committee and Vice-Chair of the Internship and Clerkship Programme for the Judiciary.

She is also a Faculty Member of the Judicial Training Institute and a member of the Governing Board of the Judicial Training Institute.

Source: Ghana/Sompaonline.com/Nana Yaw Boamah