Meet Ghana’s next Chief Justice who is also a preacher

If all is equal, Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo of Ghana's Supreme Court will succeed Justice Kwesi Anin-Yeboah.


On May 24, Justice Anin-Yeboah, who had just turned 70, began the process of retiring. Until the nominated justice gives his or her blessing, another Supreme Court justice, Jones Dotse, is serving in that position.

Justice Torkornoo appeared before the Parliamentary Appointments Committee on Friday, May 26.

Members of the Committee interrogated her nonstop for more than four hours.

As she responded to the senators' queries during the vetting, many disclosures occurred.

Her work at the church is one of them.

Joseph Osei-Owusu, the committee's chairman, had inquired as to whether any churchgoers may have addressed her about her duties as a judge.




Justice Torkonoo admitted that, indeed, she is a lay preacher at the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Calvary Temple in Sakumono in the Greater Accra Region, but her duties at church do not influence her work as a judge.




Justice Torkornoo said she was a member of the church before becoming a High Court judge and “I don’t think that anybody has ever attempted to compromise my integrity”.




Earlier, she had told Greater Accra Minister Henry Quartey that her role in church is practised based on integrity and Biblical values but her role in court is about the law.




She had quoted John 3:16 as one scripture in the Bible that she loves in evangelism, which she has continued to do from time immemorial, she says.




Justice Torkornoo’s approval will, however, depend on the Minority members, who have vowed not to continue the process until the written judgement on the Supreme Court decision on the Assin North Member of Parliament is made public.




“The Minority had a reservation because you participated in the decision involving James Quayson. You did not give a reason for your judgment so as we speak we don’t know the basis on which the court arrived at that conclusion,” said Member of Parliament for Bawku Central Constituency Mahama Ayariga.




“When the Supreme Court gives the reason, we will have another opportunity to now assess you on the basis of the quality of the reasoning of the Court and then we can take the debate.”