After the pursuit and speculations that emerged following Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood’s announcement to step down in June, it appears the President has made his choice as far as the next Chief Justice of Ghana is concerned; Justice Sophia Akuffo is Ghana’s new Chief Justice.
The decision was reached after President Akufo-Addo held discussions with his cabinet Thursday night over the selection of a new person to preside at all sittings of the Supreme Court.
Some names including those of Justice Jones Dotse and Anim Yeboah emerged as possible candidates to occupy the position after the retirement of the current Chief Justice.
President Akufo-Addo is outdooring Justice Akuffo today Friday after which he will present her name to Parliament for approval. If approved by Parliament, Justice Akuffo will officially take over from Georgina Theodora Wood in June.
She is the second woman to be occupying the position as Chief Justice in the history of Ghana after Georgina Wood.
Sophia Akuffo trained as a lawyer under Nana Akufo-Addo and 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 presided over some land mark cases in the country including the Montie 3 case in 2016.
Georgina Theodora Wood is stepping down in June after serving as Chief Justice for 10 years.
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