President Nana Akufo-Addo has nominated four persons for appointment onto the Supreme Court bench.
They include three males and a female.
The nominees are Justice Clemence Hoenyenugah, Justice Issifu Tanko Amidu, both Justices of Appeal, Emmanuel Yoni Kulendi, a private legal practitioner and Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, a Professor of law at the University of Ghana School of Law.
They are to replace Justices on the Apex Court bench who are due for retirement.
The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye made the announcement in the House today, Thursday, March 19, 2020.
The Supreme Court Justice nominees are expected to be vetted by Parliament’s Appointments Committee in the coming days.
“…In accordance with Article 144 (2) of the Constitution Justice Clemence Hoenyenugah, Justice of Appeal, Justice Issifu Tanko Amidu, Justice of Appeal, Mr Emmanuel Yoni Kulendi, Private Legal Practitioner and Prof Henrietta J.A.N. Mensa-Bonsu, Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana Legon and President, Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences upon which on the Judicial Council’s advice and in accordance with Article 144 (2), I consulted the Council of State and submitted the names and CV of the nominees for appointment to the Court. The Council of State has by ledger dated the 17th March, 2020 notified me of the successful completion of the consultation process,” he said.
Prof. Henrietta J.A.N. Mensa-Bonsu is a professor of law at the University of Ghana School of Law.
She attended Wesley Girls’ High School, University of Ghana and Yale University, obtaining a Master of Laws (LLM) in 1985.
She became a full law lecturer at the University of Ghana in 2002, and in 2003 was elected as a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
She has used platforms available to her to advocate for peace to accelerate national development.
She was a member of the Presidential Commission of Enquiry which probed the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence.
Justice Tanko, is associated with many high-profile cases, in Ghana.
Justice Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu was a Justice of the Court of Appeal until his appointment.
He attended Methodist Middle School, Dodowa and Queen’s College, Oxford, UK where he had his Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration in 2016 to 2020.
He was the senior Partner, Amadu and Co. He is a member of the Association of Magistrate and Judges, Ghana and Nigeria Bar Association.
Emmanuel Yoni Kulendi
Yoni Kulendi is the Managing Partner of his law firm Kulendi@Law, a commercial, litigation, and constitutional law practice.
Previously, he was an associate barrister and solicitor at Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co.
Yoni is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana, Legon, with an LLB Honors.
He completed his law degree at the Ghana School of Law, after which he was called to the Ghanaian Bar.
He is a member of the Ghana Bar Association. He also holds an MA in international security and civil-military relations from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, USA.