A time when Akufo-Addo’s father was Chief Justice

He has been many things in this country including one of the country’s Heads of State under the Second Republic.

From 1906 to 1979, Edward Akufo-Addo Esq was the third President of the Third Republic but the second to have taken over through democracy after Osagyefo Dr.

Read full articleKwame Nkrumah.

Edward Akufo-Addo who was the father of Ghana's sitting president; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was called to the Middle Temple Bar in London, UK, in 1940 and returned to what was then the Gold Coast to start a private legal practice in 1950 in Accra.

Having trained as a lawyer, Edward Akufo-Addo not only used his skillset in the profession to help maintain law and order and promote the rule of law but also played a critical role in Ghana’s independence in 1957.

After independence, Edward Akufo-Addo was appointed as a Supreme Court Judge in 1962. In his capacity, he together with 3 others, sat on a treason trial involving some 5 individuals including Tawia Adamafio (a minister under Dr. Kwame Nkrumah) and Ako Adjei (a politician and member of the ‘Big Six’), after the Kulungugu bomb attack; an assassination attempt on the life of President Kwame Nkrumah.

Mr. Akufo-Addo was however dismissed in 1964 with fellow judges for finding some of the accused persons not guilty.

From 1966 to 1970, Edward Akufo-Addo was appointed Chief Justice by the National Liberation Council (NLC) regime.

He also chaired the Constitutional Commission which drafted the Second Republican Constitution of 1969.

In 1970, he became President of the Republic of Ghana during the second Republic under a Westminster system of government, which had a Prime Minister, serving until deposed in a coup d’etat in 1972.

Justice Edward Akufo-Addo was a member of the "Big Six," leaders of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).

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