Ghana’s President Dismisses Chief Justice
On Monday, Ghana’s President John Mahama dismissed the country’s Chief Justice from office. The former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Gertrude Torkornoo, had already been suspended since April after three people had lodged complaints against her for embezzlement of public funds. In dismissing her, the president now acted on the recommendation of a committee of inquiry he had previously set up. According to its own statements, the committee had reviewed 10,000 pages of evidence relating to the first of the three petitions prior to making its recommendation. Among other things, the 62-year-old is accused of misusing public funds to cover the travel expenses of family members. For instance, she is alleged to have granted allowances to her husband for a private trip to Tanzania and to her daughter on a joint trip to the United States. The inquiry has not yet ruled on further petitions accusing her of wrongful judgements in politically significant cases. In a statement, the Presidency made it clear that the President had been obliged to act in accordance with the inquiry’s recommendations and remove the judge from office. Adding that Mahama had acted in line with the country’s constitution throughout the process, the Presidency referred to the controversial Article 146 of Ghana’s 1992 constitution, which regulates the removal of judges from higher courts.
It is this piece of legislation that has been at the centre of criticism from those who see this unprecedented move in Ghana’s history as a weakening of the separation of powers and an attack on the independence of the judiciary. It is argued that the relevant section of the law gives an incumbent government too much discretion in removing Supreme Court judges from office as it is not clearly defined what constitutes misconduct and abuse of office, thereby facilitating political manipulation. Furthermore, according to critics, the separation of powers itself is jeopardised by the active role of the presidency in the impeachment process. In light of this, the Executive Director of the African Centre for Law and Accountability, William Nyarko, called for a review of the impeachment law and for it to be modelled on Kenyan law, for example, where the commission of inquiry into possible impeachments of judges is subordinate to the judiciary itself and not to the president, in order to ensure the independence of the process from the executive branch. Prominent voices such as former Deputy Attorney General Alfred Tuah-Yeboah also criticised the president’s decision, saying it set a worrying precedent. The opposition party New Patriotic Party (NPP) had already strongly criticised Torkornoo’s suspension in April, describing it as a politically motivated attack on the independence of the judiciary. The fact that two of the five members of the committee, Justice Gabriel Pwamang and Justice Samuel Adibu Asiedu, were themselves Supreme Court judges and therefore close colleagues of Torkornoo had also previously attracted criticism.
Until her removal from office, Torkornoo had been the third woman to head the Ghanaian judiciary. Before her appointment as Chief Justice in 2023 by Mahama’s predecessor, Nana Akufo-Addo, Torkornoo had already served as a justice of the Supreme Court — which, in similar fashion to the British court system, functions as the highest court of law, final court of appeal and constitutional court — for four years. Supporters of Mahama’s current decision point out that a petition for her dismissal on grounds of misconduct and incompetence had already been filed in 2024. However, this was rejected by then-President Akufo-Addo due to lack of evidence. Torkornoo herself rejects the basis for her dismissal and continues to deny any allegations of misconduct or abuse of office. Instead of continuing to fight her dismissal in the Ghanaian courts, where observers believe she has little chance of success, she has turned to the ECOWAS Court of Justice, which has jurisdiction over human rights violations within the regional community. Already in July, she had filed a lawsuit against the Ghanaian government there, accusing it of an unfair and non-transparent trial and thus of violating her human rights, and demanding, among other things, the lifting of her suspension as well as compensation for reputational damage to the amount of 10 million US dollars. As the Ghanaian Attorney General failed to respond to her lawsuit and her removal from office took place before a possible verdict could be handed down, she has now requested the ECOWAS Court to issue a judgment by default in her favour.q
It remains to be seen whether she will be successful in court, and to what extent the case will have repercussions for President Mahama and spark a debate about revising the impeachment procedure for judges. In the meantime, the Ghanaian Supreme Court is being temporarily headed by Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie. Following Torkornoo’s suspension in April, Baffoe-Bonnie, as the most senior judge at the Supreme Court, was appointed acting Chief Justice. Baffoe-Bonnie had not been appointed to the commission that ruled against Torkornoo.
Venâncio Mondlane takes his seat in the Council of State
On Monday, Mozambican opposition politician Venâncio Mondlane officially assumed his seat on the Council of State (Conselho de Estado). Alongside Mondlane, other high-ranking figures took up their posts on the 21-member body, including former presidents and government members, as well as opposition leaders Albino Forquilha, president of the Partido Democrático de Moçambique (Podemos), Ossufo Momade, president of the Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Renamo), and Lutero Simango, leader of the Movimento Democrático de Moçambique (MDM). At Monday’s ceremony, President Chapo swore in all members and announced the convening of the first regular meeting of the Council of State, marking the official start of the body’s activities for this legislative term.
The State Council acts as an advisory body to the president, advising on key state issues such as the dissolution of parliament, the dismissal of provincial governors, the holding of elections and referendums, and decisions on war and peace. The body was originally supposed to meet at the end of June, but the inaugural date was then postponed. While current legislation stipulates that the runner-up in the previous presidential election is automatically entitled to a seat on the State Council, it initially seemed uncertain whether Mondlane would even be accepted onto the body due to tensions with President Daniel Chapo, or whether he would refuse his appointment. His now confirmed inclusion is seen by observers as a step by both sides to reach out to each other and promote national unity.
In last year’s presidential election, Mondlane ran as an independent candidate. He continues to claim that he won the election, yet all attempts to contest the official result have been rejected. Meanwhile, he still faces five charges brought by the public prosecutor’s office, including ‘incitement to terrorism’. The authorities accuse him of contributing to serious riots through his rhetoric and the mobilisation of protests after the presidential elections in which around 400 people were killed (Press Review CW 46/2024). If convicted, he could face up to 24 years in prison. However, as a member of the Council of State Mondlane now enjoys immunity, and only the Supreme Court, with the approval of the Council of State, could bring him to trial. Given Mondlane’s popularity, especially among the young urban population, the Mozambican media had already considered it unlikely that the government would actually bring Mondlane to trial and thus risk a political crisis.
Mondlane has also achieved success in establishing his own political party. On 15 August, his spokesperson announced that the Mozambican Ministry of Justice had approved the registration of their party, Aliança Nacional para um Moçambique Livre e Autónomo (ANAMOLA). This was preceded by Mondlane’s concession, as he had initially wanted to register the party under the acronym ANAMALALA, which had been rejected by the Ministry of Justice. ‘Anamalala’ means ‘It’s over/finished’ in Macua, a language spoken in northern Mozambique, and had been used by Mondlane as his campaign slogan. One of ANAMOLA’s first activities was the request to be included in the ‘Inclusive National Dialogue’. The agreement on this dialogue had been signed in March by the president and nine political parties (Press Review CW 11/2025), but Mondlane had not been invited to the talks at that time. The public consultation process for the dialogue is scheduled to begin on 10 September. Against the backdrop of recent developments, which are seen as a sign of willingness to engage in dialogue between the government and the opposition, some observers expect President Chapo to agree to the request.
In other news
The sixth edition of Comic Con Africa came to an end on Sunday in Johannesburg. For four days, around 70,000 visitors celebrated Japanese animation (anime), comics, gaming, e-sports, retro arcade games and cosplay competitions. International stars such as American actors Jessie T. Usher (The Boys), Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts) and Misha Collins (Supernatural) were on hand to sign autographs and pose for photos. In addition to panels and games, cosplayers were a major part of the event: fans slipped into the roles of their favourite characters, posed in replicas of well-known settings and presented their own creative creations. Show director Carla Massmann described this year’s edition as ‘bigger and bolder than ever.’ The continent’s largest pop culture and gaming festival has been held annually in South Africa since 2018, with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. This year, it was brought forward by a month due to the upcoming G20 summit.
Event information
To mark the 70th birthday of South African artist William Kentridge, the Museum Folkwang in Essen and the Dresden State Art Collections are hosting several exhibitions of his works. Under the joint title “Listen to the Echo”, the major retrospective highlights Kentridge’s exploration of themes such as colonialism, social power relations and personal responsibility, tracing his artistic development since the late 1970s against the backdrop of the struggle against apartheid. “Listen to the Echo” will be on display at the Museum Folkwang in Essen from 4 September 2025 to 18 January 2026 and at the Dresden State Art Collections from 6 September 2025.