Akufo-Addo names Gertrude Torkonoo as next Chief Justice

President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo has nominated Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo a member of the supreme court as the new Chief Justice to replace Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah who retires from the bench next month

Justice Mrs Torkornoo if confirmed by parliament will become the third female Chief Justice in the history of Ghana, following the footsteps of Justices Georgina Theodora Wood and Sophia Akuffo.

The president in a letter to the chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Serebour, said Justice Gertrude Torkornoo who has been a member of the supreme court since 2019 and has been a member of the judiciary for the last nineteen years is qualified and fit to discharge the functions of Chief Justice.

Gertrude Torkornoo hails from Winneba in the Central Region of Ghana. She was born on 11 September 1962 in Cape Coast. She attended Wesley Girls’ High School where she obtained her ordinary level certificate and Achimota School for her advanced level certificate. She is an alumni of the University of Ghana and graduated from the Ghana School of Law in 1986. In 2001 she obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in International Law and Organization from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), part of Erasmus University in the Netherlands. In 2011, she graduated from the Golden Gate University, USA with an LLM in Intellectual Property Law. [3]

Prior to joining Fugar & Co., a law firm in Accra as an associate, Justice Torkornoo worked as a volunteer at the FIDA Legal Aid Service and did an internship with Nabarro Nathanson in London. She returned to the firm (Fugar & Co.) in 1994 to become a director. In January 1997, she co-founded Sozo Law Consult where she worked as Managing Partner until 14 May 2004 when she was appointed a Justice of the High Court of Ghana.[4] She worked as a High Court judge until October 2012 when she was elevated to the Court of Appeal. Justice Torkornoo was nominated to the Supreme Court of Ghana in November 2019.[3] She was sworn into office on 17 December 2019.[

Justice Torkornoo has held several leadership roles in the judicial service. In her work as chair of E-Justice Committee, she has led the planning of automation of all levels of courts, procurement and incorporation of the use of electronic resources and software in the work of the Judicial Service.

She has also served as the Supervising Judge of commercial courts since 2013 where she has set the agenda for and chaired the meetings and programs of the Users Committee of the Commercial Courts.