A Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Kpemka, has defended President Nana Addo’s nomination of Justice Sophia Akuffo as Chief Justice.
The President ‘s choice of Sophia Akuffo has reignited the debate that the Akufo Addo government might be running a “family and friends” government.
But speaking on Eyewitness News , Mr. Kpemka dismissed these claims, saying the President ‘s latest appointment is in tandem with the constitution.
In announcing her nomination at the Flagstaff House on Friday, the President said he had known Madam Akuffo for nearly forty years and trusts in her ability and integrity to serve with distinction.
She trained under Akufo-Addo as a lawyer, and was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Jerry John Rawlings in 1995.
Mr Kpemka further indicated that, the President carefully took into consideration competence and capability before finally settling on Justice Akuffo.
“First of all, it is not in doubt that his excellency the President has the prerogative to appoint a particular person as he did. He has exercised that constitutional right and he has passed his judgement as to who is competent and capable of being the CJ of Ghana in compliance with our constitutional injunctions. I disagree with them totally that the President is running a family and friends government. He has not and will never run one.”
“The consideration that went into it was very simple. There were quite a number of justices of the Supreme Court who were competent and qualified. His excellency the President took into consideration the fact that all of them cannot occupy that position and singled her out based on integrity, dedication to work, competence to work and excellence in the field of work both locally and internationally ,so the consideration for her appointment has strictly been on the principle of merit. Her appointment is constitutional, it is lawful, it is not absurd, it is all in tandem with the fact that she is capable.”
Some had tipped Justices Jones Dotse and Anin Yeboah as likely candidates to be picked among the 12 Justices of the Supreme Court qualified to occupy the high office, but neither names were considered.
Sophia Akuffo is the second senior-most Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana. Justice William Atuguba is the senior-most among the 12 Justices of the Supreme Court, but he will be retiring soon, which put the new CJ in a better position to be chosen, since by convention, the senior-most person was usually nominated as the country’s Chief Justice.
Sophia Akuffo had her Masters in Law (LLM) from the Havard University in the United States.
She has been a member of the Governing Committee of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute and the Chairperson of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Task Force.
In January 2006, she was elected one of the first judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights initially elected for two years, she was subsequently re-elected until 2014 and is at present serving as Vice-President of the Court.
She has written ‘The Application of Information & Communication Technology in the Judicial Process – the Ghanaian Experience, a presentation to the African Judicial Network Ghana (2002).’
If confirmed by parliament Justice Sophia Akuffo will be the fifth Chief Justice under the fourth republic after; Isaac Kobina Abban who served between 1995 to 2001.
Edward Kwame Wiredu also served between 2001 and 2003 while George Kingley Acquah served from 2003 to 2007 before Georgina Theodora Wood from 2007 to 2017. Justice Akuffo will also be the 13th Chief Justice in the history of the Republic of Ghana.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)