*…Turns House Into School & Pushes Judge Into Boys’ Quarters
Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, has refused to occupy her official residence at Number 1 Tito Avenue Switch Back Road, Cantonments – Accra. Her decision is informed by the death of some of her predecessors who occupied the facility. Mrs. Wood believes there are evil spirits in the house who maim and kill holders of the office of the Chief Justice.

The Chief Justice, a member of the Assemblies of God Church has instead converted the state bungalow into a Training School for judges, magistrates, staff of the Judicial Service and other stakeholders.

She has been telling close pals that she believes there are evil spirits in the bungalow which strike Chief Justices with sickness not long after their appointments and kill them eventually.

As a result, since June 15, 2007 when she was appointed the 24th Chief Justice Mrs. Justice Wood, has been living with her husband at Labone, in a house confiscated to the state during the erstwhile Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) regime, instead of giving it out to another judge to somewhat curb the huge housing deficit in the service.

The Chief Justice also stayed away from the office used by the late Justice Acquah in the Supreme Court building. She rather took over the conference room for Supreme Court judges, which she converted into an office, before assuming her duties. Justice Acquah who she succeeded died at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, on March 25, 2007 from severe leukemia.

The late Chief Justice Edward Kwame Wiredu, fell ill whilst in office and living in the bungalow. He was rushed abroad, and he died about two years after his resignation.

His predecessor, the late Chief Justice Isaac Kobina Donkor Abban, also died in office and residing in the official residence just like the late Justice Acquah who had to endure many rounds of chemotherapy abroad before his death.

Meanwhile, a highly revered High Court Judge, Joseph Abanga has been pushed to the Boys’ Quarters of a government bungalow at Cantonments in Accra, believed to have been sold out to a private individual.

The judge and his eight-member family have been squatting in the two-bedroom boys’ quarters at the instance of the Chief Justice, as the main bungalow belonging to the Judicial Service, is gone.

The accommodation problem in the judicial service is so acute, and judges are now being told to look for their own houses and pay the rent themselves to be paid later in the form of rent allowance.

The roofs of the two-bedroom “boys’ quarters” which Justice Abanga occupies with his wife, some children and grandchildren, leak badly with the least amount of rainfall, The Herald was told.

Parts of the ceiling is rooting and caving in, The Herald observed.

Narrating how he came to occupy the house, the Judge told The Herald that sometime last year, while in Kumasi, he received a transfer notice from the Chief Justice to take over a High Court in Accra.

On reaching Accra, he was told by Mrs. Wood, that there is no bungalow for him to occupy and that he should look for his own accommodation and the Judicial Service would reimburse him and pay him rent allowance.

He said he could not raise the money to rent a house so he threatened to go back to Kumasi, but was prevailed upon by the Chief Justice to stay in the boys’ quarters in the interim but has since been living there.

Justice Abanga told The Herald that he spent his personal income to repair parts of the house to make it habitable.

This was after some initial renovation works paid for by the Judicial Service, he said in the presence of his wife, Mrs. Angnes Abanga who described the condition of the house as “very bad” and disclosed that recently thieves raided the boy’s quarters and took away some of their belongings.

Asked who the main house was sold to, Justice Abanga said since he moved into the Boys’ Quarters, he has never spotted anybody working on the main building to know who the new owner is.