Funeral held for former High Court Judge

The one-week Islamic funeral service (adour) of the late Mr Justice Chiri Adama, a retired High Court Judge has been held at Techiman in the Bono East Region.

Mr Justice Adama until his retirement in 2004, was the Supervising High Court Judge of the Upper West Region.

He died on Monday, April 8th at the age of 81.

He was survived by his wife Margaret, and their children, Salamatu, Mariama, Ayishetu (Gloria-ann Saakwa-Mante) and Iddi; in addition to 12 grand-children.

The Islamic funeral service was attended by members of the legal fraternity, National Executives of the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG), traditional chiefs, imams, pastors and the public.

Mr Justice Adama, who was born on June 10, 1937, was the elder son of Naba Kotei Yire and Naa Manorma Yire, both of blessed memory of Mognori in the Bawku Central Municipality of the Upper East Region.

He had his middle school education at the Bawku Middle Boarding School (now Bawku Senior High Technical School) from 1949 to 1953.

From there, he proceeded to the Great Tamale Secondary School (now Tamale Senior High School), where he had his General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level (O Level) and Advanced Level (A Level) Certificates from 1956 to 1963.

He volunteered and taught at the Bawku Middle Boarding School for a year and was employed with the Barclays Bank in Tamale.

He went on to pursue law at the University of Ghana and graduated in 1966.

He worked briefly at the Lands Department in Accra; while there, he was sponsored to pursue Land Law Administration at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

Upon his return, he joined the bench in 1970, and his first posting was to Kumasi as a Magistrate.

Until his retirement, the late Mr Justice Adama’s legal career spanned over 38 years, of which 34 was with the bench.

He diligently served his motherland Ghana, and by dent of hard work, he rose through the ranks from magistrate to circuit court judge and then high court judge.

He would be remembered by many for his great humility and his great philanthropic spirit.