Ghana inaugurated its 15th Chief Justice more than six months ago. However, the Ghana Legal Council (GLC), the primary regulatory body overseeing the conduct and administration of legal education and the legal profession in the country, has not yet refreshed one of its key communication platforms with updated information on its members.
An overview of the GLC on its website reveals that “the serving Chief Justice is the Chairperson of the Council, and the Judicial Secretary is its Secretary together with other appointed members including the three senior most Supreme Court Justices, the Attorney-General and her nominee, the President, Vice and Secretary of the Ghana Bar Association and the Ashanti Regional Bar President.”
Checks by the Independent Ghana show that as of January 17, 2024, the Ghana Legal Council identified retired Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah as the incumbent Chief Justice and the Chairperson of the Council.
Per official records, Justice Gertrude Araba Essaba Torkornoo is Ghana’s Chief Justice and, rightly so, the Chairperson of the Council.
On its website, the General Legal Council indicates that “the serving Chief Justice is the Chairperson of the Council.”
The Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, officially retired from active service. Justice Anin-Yeboah served for 21 years as a judge, serving three years as the Head of the Judiciary. Following his retirement, Justice Jones Dotse, the then most senior Justice on the Supreme Court bench, assumed the position of Acting Chief Justice.
On June 12, 2023, Justice Gertrude Araba Essaba Torkornoo was sworn into office as the new Chief Justice of Ghana, taking over from Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah.
This makes her the third female Chief Justice in the history of Ghana after Justice Georgina Theodore Wood and Sophia Akuffo.
Another anomaly
Also, the GLC has in its records Justice Victor Jones Dotse as an active Justice of the Supreme Court and still a member of the Council.
But Justice Victor Jones Dotse is now a retired Supreme Court Judge and cannot be a member based on being one of the three senior-most Supreme Court Justices as mandated.
A valedictory ceremony was held for Justice Dotse on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, at the Supreme Court to honour him as he resigned.
Justice Dotse was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2008 after former President John Agyekum Kufuor appointed him to the High Court in 2002 and subsequently promoted him to the Court of Appeal in 2003.
On what he intends to do on retirement, Justice Dotse said he would continue to be active and contribute to the promotion of justice by working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the justice space.
tigpost.co