The Founding President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has commended Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie for his ruling on petitions seeking the removal of the Electoral Commission Chairperson and her deputies, describing the decision as evidence of a judiciary free from executive control.

The Chief Justice determined that there was no prima facie case to warrant further investigation into seven petitions targeting Jean Mensa and her deputies at the Electoral Commission, as well as three separate petitions calling for the removal of Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng.

The petitions had been referred to the Chief Justice by President John Dramani Mahama in line with Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 15 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), to determine whether they disclosed a prima facie case.

Following his review, the Chief Justice concluded that the threshold for further proceedings had not been met.

Reacting in a post on his Facebook page on February 18, 2026, Mr Cudjoe described the ruling as a significant departure from what he characterised as past practice.

“The Judiciary is now truly unshackled. This would never have happened under the previous scariest alternative. Thank you, CJ. Thank you, President John Dramani Callistus Mahama,” he wrote.