#SaveTheJudiciaryDemo: Afenyo-Markin urges judicial service to declare sit-down strike

Maxwell Nyagamago 10:12 - 05 May 2025

Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin

Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has called on the Judicial Service to embark on a nationwide sit-down strike in solidarity with suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo.

Speaking during the #SaveTheJudiciaryDemo on Monday, 5th May, Mr Afenyo-Markin described the Chief Justice’s suspension and the ongoing efforts to remove her from office as politically motivated and a direct attack on the judiciary.

Presenting a petition to the Acting Secretary of the Judicial Service, Dr Cyracus Badinye Bapuuroh, the Minority Leader appealed to judges, members of the judiciary, and the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) to take a stand.

#SaveTheJudiciaryDemo

In his address, Mr Afenyo-Markin urged:

ALSO READ: Pres. Mahama suspends Chief Justice Torkornoo, forms committee to probe petitions

Let your conscience prick you so that you would also be the next to protest and declare a sit-down strike. Because it has happened before. When Georgina Wood came under attack, JUSAG rose to her defence. The time has come again for you—the judiciary—to rise.

President John Mahama, CJ Gertrude Torkonoo and Alexander Afenyo-Markin

He added:

Don’t be comfortable because it is Torkornoo. Don’t be comfortable because you have your own grievances, or because you have a party interest, or because the attack is benefiting you.

Mr Afenyo-Markin also warned against retaliatory politics by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), cautioning that such conduct poses a serious threat to Ghana’s democratic future.

#SaveTheJudiciaryDemo

If this vicious cycle of ‘you did it to me, I’ll do it to you’ continues, there will be no further hope for our democracy. It means that in 2028, you—who may be the acting Judicial Secretary—will now be viewed through a partisan lens. Because come what may, in 2028, there will be a change in government.

ALSO READ: Mahama not interested in third term - Majority Leader accuses NPP of mischief

Thousands of supporters have joined the protest organised by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in collaboration with four other political parties: the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), the National Democratic Party (NDP), the People’s National Party (PNP), and the Ghana Union Movement (GUM).

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