Awal Mohammed, a communicator of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has commended the former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo for her statesmanship nature exhibited in the country. 

His comments come after the news of the resignation of the former Chief Justice from the council of state broke. 

Awal Mohammed, in a Facebook post wrote on Monday that: 

She cut her legal teeth early in her career at Nana Akufo-Addo's law firm (Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co.). 

Later, she moved to the bench and rose through the ranks after being appointed to the Supreme Court by President Jerry John Rawlings in 1995. 

Decades later, in 2017, President Akufo-Addo appointed her as Chief Justice.

Following her retirement, Ghana faced severe economic challenges that triggered a domestic debt restructuring program. 

In a historic move, she joined fellow retirees to picket outside the Ministry of Finance for several days in 2023.

During the 2024 election campaign, her pictures, interviews, and public statements were heavily weaponized against the NPP, with critics labeling her ungrateful to the administration that elevated her to Chief Justice.

When the NDC won the 2024 elections, President John Mahama exercised his constitutional right to nominate a former Chief Justice to the Council of State. 

With three living former Chief Justices—Georgina Wood, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, and Sophia Akuffo—we all predicted Sophia would be chosen because her protest had served as a powerful campaign tool for the NDC. 

She was eventually appointed to the 9th Council of State.

When the government decided to remove the sitting Chief Justice, Torkornoo, they expected everyone to just fall in line. 

But Sophia Akuffo fiercely disagreed, arguing that it would be completely incongruous to remove a whole Chief Justice just over an allowance. 

She was ignored. It went through voting, and she stood as the lone voice of conscience, abstaining while the rest voted 30 against 1.

When the Justice Pwamang committee held its sitting, she, together with Nana Dr. SKB Asante—the Omanhene of Asante Asokore and Chairman of the committee of experts that drafted our 1992 Constitution—made powerful presentations saying Torkornoo must not be removed. 

Yet, the government went ahead to sack her and hurriedly appointed Baffoe-Bonnie as substantive while the case was still in court.

Grapevine information is that she realized several critical decisions in the Council were now being taken strictly on partisan lines and not in the interest of Ghana. 

Faced with such a Council, Sophia Akuffo quietly submitted her resignation. 

This marks the first time a member of the prestigious Council of State has resigned purely on principle.

Kudos, Madam. You chose your country over partisan politics.

Sompaonline.com/Akua Nyarko Abronoma