Why Justice Jones Dotse should be the next Chief Justice

After more than ten years as head of the judiciary in Ghana, Chief justice Georgina Theodora Wood will on June 8, 2017 retire from the position.

Even before the jury returns with the verdict on her legacy the focus has shifted to who replaces the first female Chief Justice of Ghana.

According to the 1992 constitution, ‘The Chief Justice is appointed by the President of Ghana in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of the Parliament of Ghana’.

It further states that the person qualified to be the Chief Justice must be of a high moral character and have proven integrity and that he or she must have been a lawyer for at least fifteen years.

Beyond the constitutional requirements, the President, just like former President John Kufour is expected to depart from choosing the most senior judge of the Supreme Court and opt for someone who combines both attributes of loyalty and competence as was explained as the alibi in the appointment of the outgoing chief justice.

On Wednesday, stakeholders within the governing Party will meet with President Akufo Addo to decide on who takes-up the baton from her ladyship, Georgina Theodora Wood as the 24th Chief Justice since the inception of the Supreme Court in 1876.

Unimpeachable sources reveal it’s a two-horse race between Supreme Court judges Jones Victor Mawulorm Dotse and Kwesi Anin Yeboah. Even though both Justices have spent 9 years at the Supreme Court Justice Jones Dotse is said to be the favourite of many within the legal fraternity and the NPP’s legal and constitutional committee.

Not only because he has chaired more panels on the apex court than his contender regardless of the fact that they are both proven to be very competent.

In fairness, both Justices Jones Dotse and Anin Yeboah are believed to have pro-NPP roots. For example just after the 2012 election petition, counsel for the NDC Tsatsu Tsikata launched an attack on Justice Anin Yeboah accusing him of bias.

Justice Jones Dotse has also had his fair share of accusations for, in the minds of the accusers, doing the bidding of the NPP. If you recall, the popular quote that is used to describe graft in this country—create, loot and share—was his coinage.

One cannot also lose sight of his potentially suggestive comments like demanding of all presidential candidates to emulate then candidate Akufo Addo and accept the outcome of election disputes.

The erudite judge also had to recuse himself from the Supreme Court panel hearing the Abu Ramadan case, after he took a stand and insisted that the Supreme Court ordered the electoral commission to delete the names of National Health Insurance registrants on the electoral roll, a position that was affirmed by the apex court even in his absence.

Another consideration that tilts the balance in his favour is his ethnicity. Proponents insist since the President is an Akan and the vice president is from the Northern part of the Country with the speaker being a Ga-Dangbe it will only be proper to balance the ethnicity scale with someone from the Volta region.

This is necessary and politically prudent because of the 110 ministers named only 6 persons representing (approx.) 5% are from the Volta region.

This is compounded by the belief that Voltarians have been shunned when it comes to appointments to notable boards by the Akufo Addo administration.

Mindful of its history, the NPP will not like to miss out on this fine opportunity to ingratiate itself to the people of the Volta region.