Justice Sophia Akuffo
Thankfully hawks and killjoys in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have not questioned the competence of the freshly minted Chief Justice of the Republic. They have however fretted over her surname, Akuffo which for them suggests a kinship between her and the First Gentleman who found her worthy of the exalted position and settled on her.
Assuming without doubt that such a kinship even exists and the President finds her competent for the position, should he have turned his attention away from her? There is a precedence of an American President appointing his brother as Attorney-General and hell did not break loose. Such considerations of whether or not an appointee has any kinship with the President or not is a feature of mediocrity and cheap politics which has no place in politically mature environments. We are not there yet and so would have to countenance such nonsense until we scale more notches to come close to those in the other hemisphere.
Although we would have rather such noisy interventions on the airwaves are disregarded; informed and measured responses can help our very young Ghanaians lest they are carried away by such distractions.
It takes a competent person to identify an equally able person. Nobody can doubt President Akufo-Addo’s ability to make a right choice in terms of appointments, of course not in the realm of the judiciary.
In a country where people driven by myopic considerations dwell so much on secondary issues such as ethnicity or even party affiliations when it comes to critical matters such as appointments, it is not unusual to hear cheap arguments in the media as which informed this commentary.
There is no doubt that the incoming Chief Justice neither chose her surname nor which part of the country she hails from. Fate as is always is responsible for what has come her way in life as it has others regardless of their circumstances.
Unfortunately her choice by the President has sparked interesting debates by persons whose political affiliations have beclouded their thoughts.
We are grateful that the constitution has given the President certain powers one of which is the choice of who he so desires to hold key national positions such as Chief Justice. Happily he is not obliged to consult those adducing these cheap arguments over why he must not choose Justice Sophia Akuffo.
As a lady who knows her onions, Justice Sophia Akuffo appreciates the importance of not giving ears to such unproductive cacophony: the enhancement of the rule of law and upholding her terms of reference as head of the judiciary is her goal; of course.
Let her leave her mark as her predecessor did perhaps even doing better. We enjoin her to introduce further innovations in the administration of justice in the country indeed beyond the fast track novelty. Although the wheel of justice is slow we nonetheless believe that in Ghana the slowness can be cumbersome and biting.
We have confidence in the judicial pedigree of our new Chief Justice to introduce novelties which can add to the IT enhanced judicial system including the computerized empanelling system. We wish her Godspeed even before she is sworn in.