Two Ghanaian Judges Who Have Served As Chief Justices Of Foreign Countries

Two distinguished Ghanaian judges have served as chief justices in other nations. Mrs. Justice Mabel Maame Agyemang, née Amoa Banful, is serving in the same capacity for the second time in the island nation of Turks and Caicos.

In the Caribbean Ocean, the Turks and Caicos Islands are located south of the Bahamas. The other, Justice Isaac Kobina Abban, was Chief Justice of the Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles from 1990 to 1993.

From February 22, 1995, until his untimely demise in 2001, he served again in the same capacity as Chief Justice in his native Ghana.Unfortunately, Justice Abban, who was scheduled to retire on May 1, 2001 for health reasons, passed away on April 21, 2001 at the age of 67.

After his return from the Seychelles, former President Jerry John Rawlings appointed Justice Abban to the Ghanaian Supreme Court and subsequently appointed him Chief Justice. Justice Abban left an indelible impression on the electoral system of the nation.

He rejected General Kutu Acheampong's overtures to rescind the result of a 1978 referendum that aimed to transform Ghana into a one-party state. General Kutu Acheampong, the head of state at the time, appointed Justice Abban as the solitary electoral commissioner to supervise the referendum.

General Acheampong advocated for Ghana to adopt Union Government (UNIGOV), a hybrid military-civilian administration. However, opposition to Acheampong's UNIGOV proposal was so intense that he sought to legitimise the process via a referendum.

On March 30, 1978, Ghanaians were required to vote "Yes" or "No" in a referendum. "Yes" indicates approval, while "No" indicates rejection or disapproval. During the tallying, it became clear that the Ghanaians had rejected the UNIGOV concept.

General Acheampong urged Justice Abban to rig the elections and proclaim a 'Yes' victory, which would have indicated that Ghanaians had accepted General Acheampong's Union Government concept.

But Justice Abban refused to be intimidated by Acheampong and his Supreme Military Council coterie. Instead, he resolved to declare the will of the Ghanaian people, which in this case was a resounding "No" to UNIGOV.

Abban, feeling threatened, resigned from his position and sought refuge with John Kojo Amissah, the then-archbishop of Cape Coast. Subsequently, General Acheampong fired him and replaced him with Justice Quaye, who did Acheampong's bidding by declaring victory for the unpopular UNIGOV referendum.

Acheampong could not survive to see his plan to fruition. In a palace coup on July 8, 1978, his fellow members of the Supreme Military Council deposed him. Justice Abban, a native of Gomoa Dawuranpong, was born in Agona Nkum, Central Region, Ghana.

From 1948 to 1953, he attended the prestigious Mfantsipim Secondary School in the Central Region before leaving for the United Kingdom to pursue law at Nottingham University.

Justice Abban was admitted to the English Bar on June 24, 1958, and returned to Ghana in 1959, where he was admitted to the Ghanaian Bar on April 18, 1959. He worked as a private attorney until May 1970, when he was appointed as a High Court justice in Cape Coast.

Her Ladyship Justice Mabel Agyemang Amoa

Prior to her present appointment as Chief Justice of Turks and Ciaos, former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh appointed Her Ladyship Mrs. Justice Mabel Maame Agyemang, née Banful (also Yamoa) as Chief Justice of The Gambia in 2013.

Numerous women's and human rights organisations applauded her appointment, believing she possessed the skills necessary to combat the administration of Yahya Jammeh. And as expected, Justice Agyemang carried out her duties with skill, independence, and an open mind.

Ironically, it is her professional integrity that will lead to her departure from The Gambia under peculiar circumstances. The Gambian government abruptly removed her in February 2014 without providing an official reason.

Many in the international judicial community surmised that her dismissal was the result of her staunch defence of the cause of human rights, which had deteriorated in The Gambia under the brutal dictator.

Prior to becoming the Chief Justice of The Gambia, Mrs. Agyemang worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat in The Gambia as an expert judge for four years, beginning in 2004.

In the span of four years, Justice Agyemang served on the Land, Civil, Commercial, and Criminal divisions of that country's High Court, where she resolved approximately 365 cases.

In 2008, the Commonwealth Secretariat seconded her to Swaziland for another two years in a comparable capacity. In the country in Southern Africa, Justice Agyemang administered both private and public law.

Some of her most notable cases involved defamation, illegal arrests, police misconduct, and electoral disputes. One of these notable decisions in Swaziland concerned the right to free education.

Justice Agyemang was admitted to the Ghanaian Bar in 1987, and she subsequently joined the Bench, serving in a number of jurisdictions, including Accra, Cape Coast, Koforidua, Kumasi, and Tema.

She was swiftly elevated to the High Court in 2002 on account of her outstanding decisions. Prior to her overseas sojourn, she served as a judge on Ghana's Court of Appeal.