Oliver Barker-Vormawor Questions GBA’s Place in Ghana’s Constitution

Lawyer and activist Oliver Barker-Vormawor has called on the Constitution Review Committee to remove all references to the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) from the 1992 Constitution, following the GBA’s recent resolution demanding the reinstatement of the suspended Chief Justice.

In a Facebook post made on April 29, 2025, Barker-Vormawor criticized the GBA’s role in the country’s constitutional framework, arguing that the Association, as a private voluntary body, should not hold such influence.

He wrote:
“The Constitution Review Committee must expunge all references to the GBA in the Constitution. It is a private voluntary association. It doesn’t even make sense to give it that pride of place only because lawyers wrote the constitution.”

Barker-Vormawor’s comments come in the wake of the GBA’s resolution, adopted on April 26, 2025, which called on President John Dramani Mahama to reinstate Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo. Torkornoo was suspended earlier this month amid ongoing investigations, a move that has sparked significant debate within Ghana’s legal and political circles. The GBA has argued that the suspension is unlawful and demanded that the President revoke it.

In another Facebook post, Barker-Vormawor escalated his critique, stating that the Attorney General (AG) should take action against the GBA for its stance. He demanded that the AG “cause the GBA to be cited for contempt,” calling the GBA’s actions “unacceptable.”