Suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has strongly dismissed calls for her resignation, describing the processes leading to her removal as unconstitutional, flawed, and driven by political motives.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, June 25, the Chief Justice made it clear that stepping down would mean endorsing what she sees as an unjust and questionable process.
“If I resign under these circumstances, I will be saying that this flawed, unknown, and opaque process is acceptable. It is not,” she firmly stated.
Justice Torkornoo argued that the Constitution does not permit judges or public officials to simply abandon Article 146 proceedings, which govern the process for removing judges. “Resigning or retiring while Article 146 proceedings are being conducted to remove a judge is not an option any judge or public official can even have,” she explained, citing a Supreme Court ruling on the matter. “There is a decided case on the matter by the Supreme Court. The suit number is J6-02-2019.”
She emphasized that once the process is initiated, no one can opt out without facing severe consequences. “No one has the authority to walk away from proceedings started by the state. Judgment can be entered against you because you fail to defend yourself,” she warned.
Justice Torkornoo further explained that resigning under such circumstances would lead to a total loss of benefits and entitlements. “A judge who resigns or retires would still lose all entitlements that they have worked for because they failed to defend the claims while the proceedings were still going on,” she noted.
According to her, resigning in the face of false allegations would only embolden those pursuing political agendas. “If false claims are made against a judge or commissioner or other public office holder subject to Article 146 proceedings just to achieve a political agenda, the solution cannot be to resign or voluntarily retire out of frustration, pressure, or fear,” she stressed.
She believes the current situation is a deliberate attempt to force her out. “It may well be that the efforts being made are intended to frustrate me so that I resign, so that the architects of the scheme can go back into the media and say that the wild and unfounded allegations were not defended because they were true and I had no defence to them,” she remarked.
Justice Torkornoo concluded her address with a firm declaration: “As Chief Justice of the nation who has been given the privilege and obligation to lead the administration of justice, resigning is not an option.”
