Indexing government scandals one at a time
President Akufo-Addo has radically packed the courts within three years of his four-year mandate. In a bid to reshape the judiciary, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on July 3, 2018, appointed four justices to the Supreme Court following the retirement of some long-serving judges. The President appointed Justice Samuel K. Marful-Sau and Justice Agnes M.A. Dordzie (both of the Court of Appeal), former Ghana Bar Association President Nene A.O. Amegatcher, and academic Prof. Nii Ashie Kotey, a former Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana.
In November 2019, the President made fresh appointments to the Supreme Court. Three judges—Justice Mariama Owusu, Justice Lovelace Johnson, and Justice Gertrude Tokornoo—were elevated from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court bench.
Then, on March 3, 2020, President Akufo-Addo made further appointments to the Supreme Court. The three nominees—Lawyer Yoni Kulendi of Kulendi @ Law Chambers, Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu, and Clemence J. Honyenuga—were selected to replace Justices Julius Ansah, Nasiru Sulemana Gbadegbe, and Anthony Alfred Bennin.
This brought the total number of judicial appointments under Akufo-Addo’s presidency to fifty-five (55) within three years.
On Tuesday, 17th December 2019, President Akufo-Addo swore into office forty-five (45) Justices of the High Court and Court of Appeal, based on the advice of the Judicial Council, at a ceremony at Jubilee House. The forty-five comprised thirty-four (34) High Court Judges and eleven (11) Court of Appeal Judges, all deemed eminently fit and qualified for the positions.
March 10, 2020
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