President John Dramani Mahama has appointed seven people as justices of the apex court of the land, the Supreme Court of Ghana.
The president, in accordance with Article 144(2) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, has submitted his list of nominations to the Council of State for their consideration.
After the advice and confirmation of the Council of State, the nominees are expected to be vetted and approved by the Parliament of Ghana.
The seven nominees are made up of five men and two women.
Below are brief profiles of the seven nominees:
1. Justice Sir Dennis Dominic Adjei
Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei is currently a judge of the Court of Appeal of Ghana, appointed in July 2010. He is also a judge of the African Court, having been elected to the court in July 2022 for a six-year term.
Additionally, he is one of the nine members of the Advisory Committee of the International Criminal Court.
Justice Adjei’s profile on the Africa Court shows that he was elected as the Inns of Court and Advanced Legal Institute of the University of London Senior Judges Fellow for Common Law jurisdictions for the 2022–23 academic year.
He is also a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He obtained a law degree from the University of Ghana and the Ghana School of Law.
He holds an Executive Master of Public Administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration; Master of Laws in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of London; Master of Laws in Judicial Studies from the Duke Law School and Duke University, North Carolina, United States of America.
2. Justice Gbiel Simon Suurbaareh
Justice Gbiel Simon Suurbaareh, who is a judge at the Court of Appeal, was appointed to the court in 2010.
He is also the representative of the Justices of the Court of Appeal on Ghana’s Judicial Council.
Before his appointment to the Court of Appeal, he was the Supervising High Court Judge in the Eastern Region.
Justice Suurbaareh is also known for his mastery of constitutional and administrative law.
3. Justice Senyo Dzamefe
Justice Senyo Dzamefe is a justice of the Court of Appeal.
He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2010.
He served as a justice of the High Court before his promotion to the Court of Appeal.
He was the chairperson of the Dzamefe Commission, which looked into the performance of Ghana’s senior men’s football team, the Black Stars, at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
He was elected President of the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG), having been elected to the position in 2018.
Justice Dzamefe is known for his work in commercial and civil litigation and has contributed to the development of corporate governance and financial regulation jurisprudence.
4. Justice Kweku Tawiah Ackaah-Boafo
Justice Kweku Tawiah Ackaah-Boafo is a judge at the Court of Appeal.
He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2022 after serving as a High Court judge for years.
He was one of the justices who presided over the Republic v Ato Forson & 2 others ambulance case and wrote the lead judgement, which exonerated the current Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, of any wrongdoing.
As a High Court judge, he also presided over what became known as the Ex Parte Zanetor case, where he ruled that Article 94(1)(a) of the Constitution is clear and does not call for interpretation after the candidature of the Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, was challenged.
Justice Ackaah-Boafo has practised law both in Canada and Ghana.
He was a member of the Ontario Bar in Canada. He has taught law at the Ghana School of Law.
He is a strong advocate for modernising and growing Ghana’s law curriculum to include programmes such as cybersecurity law, intellectual property law, and health law.
5. Justice Philip Bright Mensah
Justice Philip Bright Mensah is a justice of the Court of Appeal.
He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2019, having served on the High Court for several years.
He was the presiding Court of Appeal judge in the famous trial of former COCOBOD CEO, Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni, which ruled that the High Court should adopt proceedings from the trial conducted by the previous judge, who heard the case from 2018 till March 2023.
He is also one of the Court of Appeal judges in the ambulance trial who acquitted and discharged Dr Cassiel Ato Forson and businessman, Richard Jakpa.
Justice Bright Mensah, during his days as a lawyer, practised with Legal Relief Trust.
His areas of specialisation include Commercial Law, Corporate Law, Litigation, and Taxation.
6. Justice Janapare Bartels-Kodwo
Justice Janapare Bartels-Kodwo is one of the two women nominated by President Mahama to the Supreme Court.
She is currently a justice of the Court of Appeal.
She was appointed to the court in 2019 by then-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
According to a report by GNA, Justice Bartels-Kodwo is known for her judicial discipline and attention to legal detail, building a reputation for impartiality and integrity on the bench.
Justice Bartels-Kodwo has risen through the ranks, serving as a magistrate, a district court judge, a circuit judge, a High Court judge and a justice of the Court of Appeal. She has over 30 years of experience on the bench.
7. Justice Hafisata Amaleboba
The second woman nominated to the Supreme Court is Justice Hafisata Amaleboba.
Like all the other nominees, she is also a Court of Appeal judge.
She was appointed to the court in 2022.
Before her tenure on the Court of Appeal, Justice Amaleboba served as a High Court judge, where she was involved in several high-profile cases, including serving on the three-member panel presiding over a famous coup plot case.
Justice Amaleboba’s areas of expertise include family law, land law, and alternative dispute resolution.
BAI/AE
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