Appointment of Sophia Akuffo not based on sentiments - Emile Short

Former Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Emile Short has observed that the appointment of Justice Sophia Akuffo as Chief Justice is an indication President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is on issues.

He stated that Justice Sophia Akuffo who succeeds Justice Georgina Theodora Wood is more than qualified for the job and therefore downplayed claims by those who think others should have occupied the position instead of her.

“Justice Sophia Akuffo is qualified for the job. Everybody thought, the president would have nominated Justice Dotse. But for the president to select Sophia Akuffo means he is on top of issues. He selects people on merit not on sentiments”, he observed

The incoming Chief Justice according to him, is one of the best he has ever seen.

Justifying his choice of the astute female member of the bench on GHOne TV on Monday May 15, 2017 he said “seniority has never been alternative factor when appointing a chief justice. He considered the respect the person commands, his/her experience at the bar. I don’t see any conflict of interest because she is a distant cousin of the president but as I said earlier on she is one of the most competent people I have ever seen. She has a track record, you need to read her legacies and what she has done for the judicial service before u talk about conflict of interest”

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in accordance with Article 144 (1) of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution named the Supreme Court Judge as a successor to Justice Georgina Theodora Wood whose tenure expires June, 10, 2017

Profile of Justice Sophia Akuffo

Sophia A.B. Akuffo has been a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana for the past two decades.

Sophia Akuffo trained as a lawyer under Nana Akufo-Addo who 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 written The Application of Information & Communication Technology in the Judicial Process – the Ghanaian Experience, a presentation to the African Judicial Network Ghana (2002).

One of her famous cases is when she presided over the Montie 3 in 2016.