President John Dramani Mahama perhaps has a daunting task at hand in his quest to find a replacement for his Council of State appointee, former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo.
Even though reports indicate that the former Chief Justice submitted her resignation in September 2025, just months into her appointment, the government has explained that the public is only hearing about the resignation because of deliberations about it by the Council of State.
Maybe the government is being candid with the public with its explanation, but one thing is also certain: finding a replacement for Sophia Akuffo is not going to be an easy task.
This is so because of the requirement of the 1992 Constitution, which made President Mahama nominate Sophia Akuffo to the Council of State.
Article 89(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana makes provision for the creation of a Council of State. The article, which is found in Chapter 9 of the Constitution, states that "There shall be a Council of State to counsel the President in the performance of his functions."
The article mandates the president to appoint certain categories of people, including a former Chief Justice, to the Council of State. Specifically, Article 89(1)(a) makes it compulsory for one of the persons on the council to be someone who has “previously held the office of the Chief Justice.”
This requirement implies that the president now has a very limited group of people to appoint as Sophia Akuffo's replacement. In fact, the president has literally three former chief justices to choose from to replace Akuffo.
A majority of the former chief justices, one would say, are not the favourites of the president or his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and his appointing any of them to the council would be somewhat difficult.
Here are the three options available to the President as Sophia Akuffo’s possible replacement.
1. Justice Georgina Wood:
Former Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, Ghana's first female head of the judicial arm of government, is one of the three options available to Mahama.
Justice Wood was appointed Chief Justice in 2007 by former President John Agyekum Kufuor. She served in the role for about 10 years until her retirement in 2017.
She was a State Attorney at the Attorney-General's Department before her appointment to the bench as a district magistrate.
She rose through the ranks from district magistrate to circuit court judge before being promoted to the High Court.
She was elevated to the Court of Appeal and, in 2002, appointed to the Supreme Court of Ghana.
2. Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah:
Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, Ghana’s 14th Chief Justice, is the second option available for Mahama to choose as a replacement for Justice Sophia Akuffo.
Justice Anin Yeboah was appointed Chief Justice in 2020 by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He served in the role until his retirement in 2023.
Before becoming Chief Justice, he served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana after his appointment to the bench in 2008.
He was called to the Ghana Bar in 1984 and built a distinguished legal career spanning private practice, academia, and the judiciary.
3. Justice Gertrude Torkornoo:
Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, Ghana’s third female Chief Justice, is the third option for President Mahama.
She was appointed Chief Justice by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2023.
She was first appointed to the bench in 2004 as a High Court judge after working for years in private legal practice, where she co-founded the law firm Sozo Law Consult.
Justice Torkornoo was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2012, where she served for several years before her appointment to the Supreme Court in 2019.
She was removed from office on September 1, 2025, after a five-member committee (under Article 146(6)) investigated petitions against her and recommended her removal to President John Dramani Mahama.
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