President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday inducted into office two High Court Judges at a ceremony at the Jubilee House.
The two Justices, both women — Dorothy Ayodele Kingsley Nyinah and Ama Sefenya Ayittey — were sworn into office upon the advice of the Judicial Council.
This is the seventh time since becoming President of Ghana that President Akufo-Addo has had the opportunity to swear into office Justices of the High Court.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the two justices are eminently fit and qualified for the position of Justices of the High Court.
He said that Dorothy Ayodele Kingsley Nyinah and Ama Sefenya Ayittey have the impartiality of mind and independence of spirit necessary to hold this high office.
“I refer to Dorothy Ayodele Kingsley Nyinah and Ama Sefenya Ayittey. I congratulate all of you,” he told the newly sworn-in Justices.
Over the last 30 years, the Ghanaians, according to President Akufo-Addo, have demonstrated their determination to build under GOD, a nation of accountable governance, founded on the rule of law and the separation of powers.
One of the most critical arms of government towards the preservation of this determination is the Judiciary.
The country’s Constitution, the President stressed, decrees that the Judiciary has the final say in all matters of the breach of law, civil and criminal, including matters relating to the interpretation and enforcement of basic law of the land itself.
The High Court, President Akufo-Addo said, is the first rung of the ladder of the Superior Court of Judicature, the Court of first instance, with original jurisdiction in all matters and with express power in article 140(2) ‘to enforce the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed by this Constitution’.
He reminded the Justices that the High Court is the focal point for justice delivery in the Country’s judicial structure, stressing that it was critical for the growth of the nation that “the High Court commands the respect of the people by the quality of its decisions as well as by the comportment of its Judges.”
To the new justices, President Akufo-Addo said, it was essential that they show their honesty, possess integrity and a sound knowledge of the law.
He added that “a corrupt and incompetent judge is a danger to the public and judicial administration.
“The situation, where judges proffer judgments based on decisions from lower courts and cite them as law, is not acceptable, and even less so, when judges cite no authority at all for their rulings, and give orders without reasons.
You must be learned, know your case law and ensure your decisions and judgments are properly motivated,” the President said.
President Akufo-Addo told the High Court judges that if they discharge their functions effectively, most judicial proceedings would end at their doorsteps, and, thereby, accelerate the process of judicial administration.
He said for, in the well-known maxim of Roman law, “it is to the interest of the state that there be a limit to litigation.”
President Akufo-Addo urged Ghanaians that it is their collective responsibility that “we all work together with our different views and different perspectives for the Ghana project.
“A united Ghana, driven by considerations of social justice and solidarity and governed according to the rule of law, respect for individual freedom and liberties, human rights and the principles of democratic accountability,” he stated.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
