Supreme Court judge Baffoe-Bonnie pays tribute to Sir John

Supreme Court judge Paul Baffoe-Bonnie has paid tribute to Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, his roommate for five years in their law school days.

Lawyer Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, passed away on Wednesday, July 1 at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital after a short illness.

Many tributes have poured in for the late Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission.

His role in the New Patriotic Party (NPP), having served as its General Secretary between 2010 and 2014, has been much talked about.

During the landmark election petition in 2013, Sir John faced nine eminent Supreme Court judges after being cited for contempt.

One of the nine judges at the time was Justice Baffoe-Bonnie.

Read below his touching tribute to Sir John

TRIBUTE TO SIR JOHN

Tribute by JSC BAFFOE BONNIE:

From C58 Sarbah Main, to 416 Annex B(okponglo), we shared rooms for 5 years. He was from Sakora Wonoo, I am from Goaso, Kwasi Anin Yeboah(the current CJ) is from Toase near Nkawie.

We formed a trio of village law students. Even though Anin Yeboah was in Commonwealth hall, our room was a second home for him.



He was one of those law students, who even at the law school, were already “lawyers”. He was a devout Adventist who could quote the Bible for fun. His passion was quoting Shakespeare. He was a brother and extremely loyal to his friends. He was generous to a fault.

He will literally remove what is in his mouth and give it to you. I have known for a long time about all the adjectives and more, that are being used to describe him even in death.

Can anyone imagine what was going through the minds of Anin Yeboah and I as Sir John stood before the Supreme Court on a charge of Contempt? The day after his conviction I joined him in Kumasi to celebrate the traditional marriage of his daughter who is my god-daughter. I jokingly told him I was hoping that he would be imprisoned so that I would be the only “father” at the ceremony!

SIR JOHN WAS A HUMAN BEING. CORONA VIRUS HAS CLAIMED ITS BIGGEST VICTIM YET. MAY HIS AFFABLE SOUL REST IN PEACE!