Martin Kpebu, a private legal practitioner, has said the suspended Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo, will lose all her retirement entitlements if she loses her case.
The Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo is currently the subject of impeachment proceedings under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution.
According to Martin Kpebu, the Article 146 proceedings CJ Torkornoo is facing is she loses will tarnish her record and her family as well.
Speaking on the matter on JoyNews on July 31, 2025, Kpebu explained, “This Article 146 proceedings she’s facing, if she loses the case, it means that her record is tarnished. Can you imagine her family, her children, her record is tarnished.
“And besides, she will lose her entitlement because that is misconduct. When you look at Article 146, it’s misconduct. And you see, usually in our employment law, when a person is dismissed from office because of misconduct, that person loses entitlement,” he added.
Kpebu added, “And so, it means that by her position, Chief Justice Torkornoo would have retired on her salary, entitled to security, entertainment, et cetera. All those things she won’t get if she loses this case. So, I’m thinking that, perhaps, if she’s allowed to resign and then she can go with these benefits, it will help the whole nation.”
The private legal practitioner noted that the avenue of resignation is not available to the suspended Chief Justice, but she could implore senior statesmen to negotiate with the president on her behalf.
Kpebu suggested, “… Perhaps that avenue to resign is not available to her that’s why you see that she’s going nine miles. So, in this context, I once again implore our senior statesmen to come together and then perhaps approach her. If she consents, then they will approach the president and the other stakeholders so that they negotiate something for her to go, so that she resigns… I think a political settlement where she exits in a dignified manner is better”.
“That would help us because right now, it appears looking at our state of development, we are not quite there,” he continued.
“The matters she’s thrown out have forced certain conversations that ordinarily we wouldn’t have. You see, she raised issues of bribery, issues of nepotism, issues of political influence, matters that we usually hesitate to hold frankly in the no-holds-barred fashion. These are matters that, when it comes to the judiciary, we are coy, shy about them. But I see that she’s forced the conversation,” he added.
Moving on, the Accra High Court yesterday, July 31, threw out Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo’s application for judicial review.
Reports suggest the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court described the suspended Chief Justice’s review request as an abuse of court processes, asserting that it lacks jurisdiction.
This was another legal blow after three separate injunction applications previously filed at the Supreme Court were also thrown away.
Meanwhile, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo filed another case at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, Nigeria.
She accused President John Dramani Mahama of failing to specify the claims in the petitions for her removal.
According to the details of the lawsuit, she is seeking ten reliefs from the ECOWAS Court, including $10 million in compensation for moral and reputational damages suffered by the Applicant as a result of her illegal suspension and unfair investigation.