Sophia Akuffo will bring honour to judiciary - Akufo-Addo

Chief Justice nominee Sophia Akuffo will bring honour to the judiciary and to Ghana if she is approved by parliament, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.

Mr Akufo-Addo said the judicial scandal that hit the country two years ago was “excruciating and a shocking embarrassment” of the court but the outgoing Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood rose to the occasion to introduce reforms to restore some dignity back to the judiciary.

He said Mrs Wood had a distinguished and honourable career as Chief Justice and was confident that Justice Sophia Akuffo would also be an effective leader and guard jealously the independence of the judiciary.

“I have nominated another woman, Justice Sophia Akuffo, the second most senior justice of the Supreme Court, to be our new Chief Justice and parliament is due to start her confirmation hearing anytime now. I’m confident the future Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo will be an effective leader of the judiciary and guard jealously its independence. She will bring honour to the judiciary and to our country,” he said at a presidential lecture at the Academy of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Germany on Tuesday 13 June.

Justice Sophia Akuffo will be vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday June 19.

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