I’ll protect integrity of Judiciary - Justice Sophia Akuffo

The Chief Justice nominee, Justice Sophia Akuffo, has promised to crack the whip to ensure the integrity of the Judiciary and the delivery of quality justice for all.

In that regard, she said she would take disciplinary action against judges and staff of the Judicial Service who would engage in corruption in the administration of justice.

Answering questions before the Appointments Committee of Parliament (ACP) Friday, she said her office would deal with the offending judges and staff without favour or selectivity in a transparent manner.

Ms Justice Akuffo said her vision was to have quality justice delivered by quality judges in accordance with the law.

That, she said, would be anchored on the use of technology to ensure speedy adjudication of cases.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo nominated Ms Justice Akuffo as Chief Justice in accordance with Article 144 (1) of the 1992 Constitution, which provides that “the Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President, acting in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of Parliament.”

Article 144 (2) provides that “the other Supreme Court justices shall be appointed by the President, acting on the advice of the Judicial Council, in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of Parliament.”

Consistent with the 1992 Constitution, the President wrote a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, informing him about the nomination of Ms Justice Akuffo for the position of Chief Justice.

Consequently, the Speaker of Parliament referred the President's nominee for Chief Justice to the ACP for consideration and report.

Friday’s vetting was a novelty as the chairmen and ranking members of the Parliamentary, Legal and Constitutional Affairs and Judicial committees were invited to take part in the process.

Justices of the Supreme Court and members of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) were there to show solidarity to Ms Justice Akuffo.

If approved, Justice Akuffo will take over from Mrs Justice Wood, who retired on June 8, 2017, after 10 years as Chief Justice and 47 years in public service.

The vetting was originally slated for Monday, June 19, 2017 but was brought forward to yesterday to prevent any long period of vacuum that could be created by the retirement of Justice Mrs Wood.

A period of 14 days was given to the public to file any petition challenging the nomination of the new Chief Justice but, according to Mr Osei Wusu, no petition had been submitted to the ACP yet.

Justice Akuffo, who has a master’s degree in Law (LLM) from the University of Harvard in the United States of America (USA), has been a justice of the Supreme Court since 1995.