Deserving magistrates will be promoted - Akuffo

Chief Justice nominee Sophia Akuffo has assured that she will review processes regarding promotion of magistrates and judges at the country’s lower courts.

She told parliament’s Appointment Committee on Friday, 16 June during her vetting: “Regarding promotion, it has to be reviewed and I will make sure that those processes are brought into play to ensure that no one has been overlooked and no one will be overlooked and it will be based on performance…”

According to her, there was a need for infrastructural upgrade of some of the working environment of some lower court judges as well as improvement in remuneration.

“Not only [promotion of] the lower court judges but also the conditions in which they work in terms of infrastructure and so on,” she said, adding: “There will be a need to do a quick review of the current situation and then make proposals for moving forward within the terms of the general applicable rules in terms of remuneration.”

Sophia Akuffo holds a Masters in Law (LLM) degree from Harvard 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 People’s 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 and 2001.

Edward Kwame Wiredu also served between 2001 and 2003 while George Kingsley Acquah was head of the judiciary from 2003 to 2007 before Georgina Theodora Wood was made CJ from 2007 to 2017.

If approved, Justice Akuffo will be the 13th Chief Justice of the history of the Republic of Ghana.