Justice Wiliam Atuguba, supreme court Justice of Ghana has praised the late chief Justice of Ghana, Justice G. K. Acquah for his enormous contributions to the Judiciary of the country.
According to Justice Atuguba the late Chief Justice has left an indelible mark in the practice that will never be forgotten.
He said the rise of the late Chief Justice in the profession is testament to the quality of his works and the professionalism he exhibited.
“The late Chief Justice came to the High Court in 1989, he was recommended for the Court of Appeal but he, in humility requested to start from the High Court level…I believe without any fear of contradiction that his rise from the High Court bench to the Supreme Court is unprecedented in the annals of the history of the judiciary, from 1989-november 1995 he was in the Supreme Court.”
According to him, the late chief Justice introduced three principles that have been accepted and is widely used in the determination of cases.
“The first happened to do with the question of political question under the constitution, whether the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to delve into a matter that can be termed as political question.
“The second legal principle he laid down was what constitute a moot action because it was contended; after all subsequently the ministers were in place. He laid the principle that an action cannot be considered moot unless it is in such a nature that it is incapable of arising subsequently, as much as our constitutional system is a recurrent four year tenure there’s nothing moot about that action.”
“The third principle established which has helped the Supreme Court is about the holistic construction of the constitution. Constitution should not be construed piece meal but should be considered as a whole but each provision should be interpreted in relation to the other.”
Justice Atuguba also enumerated the late Chief Justice Acquah’s achievements as a chief Justice saying that most of his interventions were innovative and instrumental.
He explained that considering the mark the former Chief Justice Acquah made as a Chief Justice, its painful to think that the Country lost such an admirable character the time it did.
Chief Justice Acquah is the 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana and died at the age of 65 in 2007.
He was appointed Chief Justice by former President John Kufuor in 2003.
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