In an extraordinary legal development, the Chief Justice of Ghana, Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey, has taken the unusual step of initiating legal proceedings at the Supreme Court in a bid to stop an ongoing investigation into her alleged misconduct.
The motion, filed under suit number J8/113/2025, was submitted at exactly 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
The case seeks to suspend the work of a presidential committee tasked with probing accusations leveled against the Chief Justice.
In what many observers describe as a dramatic twist, the list of plaintiffs includes the Attorney-General of the Republic—ordinarily the state’s chief legal advisor—as well as Justices Gabriel Scott Pwamang and Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu, who are both members of the committee being challenged. Their inclusion raises serious questions of legal paradox and possible conflict of interest.
The other respondents named in the suit are prominent public figures: former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelovo, Major Flora Bazwaanura Dalugo, and academic and communications scholar, Professor James Sefah Dzisah. These individuals make up the rest of the committee whose mandate is now being challenged before the apex court.
The Chief Justice’s motion is a request for an interlocutory injunction—an urgent legal tool employed to prevent an action from proceeding until a substantive matter is resolved. In this instance, she is asking the Supreme Court to freeze the committee’s activities until her legal challenge is fully determined.
According to the court documents, Justice Sackey contends that any further actions by the committee would compromise her constitutional rights and violate due process. Her legal team argues that the legitimacy and composition of the committee raise fundamental concerns that must be addressed before any substantive proceedings can take place.
Specifically, the Chief Justice is asking the Supreme Court for:
1. An injunction restraining the five-member committee—specifically the 2nd to 6th defendants—from continuing with any aspect of the inquiry into her conduct until the case is resolved;
2. An order disqualifying Justices Pwamang and Adibu-Asiedu from the committee, citing potential bias or conflict of interest due to their judicial roles and proximity to the case;
3. A suspension of the presidential warrant reportedly issued under Article 146(10) of the 1992 Constitution, which empowers the President to suspend a sitting Chief Justice when a prima facie case has been established;
4. Any other legal reliefs the Court may deem just and appropriate in the circumstances.
The motion was filed by former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, who is now in private legal practice. His law firm, Dame & Partners, is acting as legal counsel for the Chief Justice in this matter.
