Celebrating Sophia Akuffo, Ghana's second female Chief Justice

As we mark International Women's Day, GhanaWeb celebrates Ghana's second female Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, who is now the chairperson of the county's COVID-19 Task Force.

Sophia Akuffo's appointment as Chief Justice of Ghana in 2017 was the second

Read full articlesuccessive female appointment after the appointment of Georgina Wood. This helped break the male dominance of 11 consecutive male Chief Justices in the 4th Republic of Ghana.

As Chief Justice, some of the notable cases presided by Sophia Akuffo included the Awuni versus West African Examination Council case, Okofoh Estates versus Modern Signs Ltd case, the Soon Boon Seo versus Gateway Worship Centre case and Amuzu versus Oklikah case. She would also be remembered for ruling that courts could sit at weekends and on bank holidays to deal with urgent legal cases.

Prior to her appointment as Chief Justice, she was elected as one of the pioneering Judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. She was sworn in with other members of the Court in July 2006, having been nominated by then-President John Agyekum Kufuor. In 2008, she was elected as the Vice President of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights and subsequently as the President of the Court in 2012, a position she held till 2014 when her term expired as a judge of the court.

Sophia Akuffo was also a justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, having been appointed by the late ex-President Jerry John Rawlings in 1995 before her appointment to the African Court.

Sophia Akuffo retired as a judge after her term as Chief Justice ended on December 20 2019. She was born on December 20, 1949.

She attended the Wesley Girls' High School, Cape Coast, and the University of Ghana for her Bachelor of Law Degree. She obtained a master's degree in law from Harvard University and then proceeded to the Ghana School of Law and trained under Nana Akufo-Addo.