Kulendi Cleared, Petition Dismissed

Justice Yonny Kulendi will remain in office as a Supreme Court judge, after Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie dismissed a petition seeking his removal.

The announcement was made on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, through the Facebook page of Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the Minister of State in Charge of Government Communication. The petition was rejected because a prima facie case was not established.

“In the matter of a petition brought against Justice Yonny Kulendi, the following facts suffice. The president forwarded the petition to the Chief Justice to determine whether or not there was a prima facie case in accordance with Article 146 of the Constitution.

The Chief Justice wrote to the president indicating that the petition did not disclose a prima facie case.

 The President has communicated this determination to the petitioner,” the statement said.

The petition was filed by Daniel Marfo Ofori-Atta on October 2, 2025. He had also submitted a similar petition to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, requesting an investigation into Justice Kulendi and his cousin, Richard Jakpa, over alleged attempts to interfere with the administration of justice.

“The petition that I have filed at the CID headquarters is not the only petition that I have filed. I have also invoked the necessary and relevant provisions of the Ghanaian constitution.

I have petitioned the President for the removal of Justice Yonny Kulendi as a justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana,” Ofori-Atta said.

The allegations are linked to the high-profile trial of the Republic versus Cassiel Ato Forson and 2 others, in which Jakpa, currently the Director of Operations at the National Security Secretariat, was the third accused.

Ofori-Atta claimed that Justice Kulendi attempted to obstruct justice and violated the code of conduct expected of a Supreme Court judge, arguing that these actions amounted to misbehaviour and made him unfit for office.

The petition had alleged that Justice Kulendi breached judicial ethics by engaging in matters related to the prosecution of his cousin during the ongoing ambulance scandal trial.

“I write this petition in my capacity as a citizen of the Republic of Ghana, pursuant to Article 146(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which provides as follows:

‘A Justice of the Superior Court or a Chairman of a Regional Tribunal shall not be removed from office except for stated misbehaviour or incompetence or on grounds of inability to perform the functions of his office arising from infirmity of body or mind.

“This petition seeks the removal of Justice Yonny Kulendi, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, for stated misbehaviour, which I respectfully submit was committed in connection with his repeated and improper interference with criminal proceedings in the High Court of Ghana, in the case titled: Republic v. Cassiel Ato Forson & 2 Others.

 This conduct contravenes several provisions of the Code of Conduct for Judges and Magistrates and has undermined public confidence in the judiciary’s integrity, impartiality, and independence, the very principles on which our justice system is founded,” part of the petition stated.

However, the court did not find sufficient evidence to act on the petition. Following Article 146 of the Constitution, the President referred the matter to the Chief Justice, who confirmed it did not meet the threshold of a prima facie case and informed the petitioner.