Following Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo’s suspension, Supreme Court Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, the most senior member on the bench, is anticipated to take over as Acting Chief Justice, according to legal expert Martin Kpebu.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie would serve as the interim head of the judiciary until a permanent Chief Justice is appointed, according to Kpebu.
President John Dramani Mahama has determined that there is enough justification to move on with the three petitions filed against Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, in accordance with Article 146(6) of the Constitution and after consulting with the Council of State. Consequently, the Chief Justice’s duties have been officially stopped until further action is taken.
Speaking in an interview with Accra-based TV3 on April 22, 2025, Martin Kpebu explained that Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, as the most senior judge on the Supreme Court, is conventionally the candidate to take over as Acting Chief Justice.
“There’s a specific provision for it in the constitution. It is explicitly written that, in the absence of the Chief Justice, the most senior justice of the Supreme Court takes over. So it means that Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie is the Acting Chief Justice, there can be no two ways about that,” he said.
On June 12, 2023, then-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo swore in Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, the third woman to hold the position.
She was born in Cape Coast, Ghana, on September 11, 1962. In addition to driving judicial innovations like the E-Justice system, she joined the judiciary in 2004 and ascended to the Supreme Court in 2019.
She is a writer and poet who received her education at the University of Ghana and abroad.