Nana B’s claim that John Mahama promised to sack Chief Justice false

On April 24, 2025, the National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye, claimed that President John Dramani Mahama had promised to remove the Chief Justice while campaigning for the 2024 general elections.

Mr Boakye said this while discussing Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo’s suspension on Okay FM’s morning show, Ade Akye Abia.

“Let me tell you what is dangerous about this and why we should all rise up. Before John Mahama became president, he promised that he would sack the chief justice. The video is all over. He said this when he met some lawyers in the Volta region. He said he is not happy about our judicial system, so when he wins power, he will change the head of the judiciary. He has said it. It is on record. It is his campaign message that he wants to fulfill,” he said.

Fact-Check Ghana has verified this claim and presents the verdict below.

Claim: “Before John Mahama became president, he promised that he would sack the chief justice. He said he is not happy about our judicial system, so when he wins power, he will change the head of the judiciary.”

Verdict: False

Explanation:

On April 22, 2025, President John Mahama suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.

As the head of the judiciary, Mrs Torkornoo survived a removal request early this year before former President Nana Akufo-Addo left office.

However, after surviving that removal request, three additional petitions seeking her removal were sent to President John Mahama after he assumed office.

Her suspension by President Mahama was to make way for an investigation into the petitions against her. This has since generated heated conversations in the media.

It was in this context that the NPP’s national organiser claimed that President Mahama promised to sack the Chief Justice during the 2024 electioneering campaign.

However, a thorough search by Fact-Check Ghana found no evidence of a publicly available video or credible record confirming that Mahama made such a pledge.

Instead, a video of the President critiquing the judiciary’s perceived bias and loss of public confidence in August 2022 went viral. He was speaking at the second annual lawyers conference of the NDC in Ada in the Greater Accra and not in Ho in the Volta Region as Mr Boakye indicated.

In his speech, he expressed concern about the erosion of trust in the judiciary and emphasised the need for reforms to restore public confidence.

He went on to say that: “Unfortunately, we have no hope that the current leadership of our judiciary can lead such a process of change; we can only hope that the new Chief Justice will lead the process to repair the broken image that our judiciary has acquired over the last few years.”

While this statement reflects strong criticism of the judiciary, it was not made under the leadership of the suspended Chief Justice. Mrs Torkornoo was nominated to lead the Supreme Court’s bench in April 2023 and was officially approved by Parliament in June 2023.

Importantly, the call for reform and hope in future leadership is different from a declared intent to sack the head of the judiciary.

In 2024, Mahama attended the fourth annual lawyers conference of the NDC again. While the event was held in Ho this time, he made no statement about changing the Chief Justice.

In summary, the claim by the NPP’s National Organiser that John Mahama promised to sack the Chief Justice is not supported by any verifiable public statement or evidence. Mahama criticised the judiciary’s perceived bias but stopped short of expressing any intention to remove the Chief Justice if elected. The claim is therefore false.