Franklin Cudjoe, founding president of IMANI Africa, has sparked debate over Ghana’s judicial appointments with a detailed tribute to President John Dramani Mahama’s first nominee to the Supreme Court, Sir Knight Professor Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei.
Cudjoe’s remarks, lauded the nominee’s extensive qualifications while raising pointed questions about why such an accomplished jurist was previously bypassed.
“How come Akufo-Addo and the suspended Chief Justice jumped this very competent man and appointed far less accomplished and juniors to the Supreme Court?”
Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President of IMANI Africa
Cudjoe’s question ignited a conversation that has drawn national attention to judicial meritocracy.
Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei has served as a judge on Ghana’s Court of Appeal since 2010. In 2022, he was elected to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights for a six-year term, joining a pan-African bench that adjudicates critical human rights cases.
Prior to that, he joined the Advisory Council of the International Criminal Court in 2021, a body responsible for vetting global judicial appointments to the ICC bench.
Franklin Cudjoe’s detailed remarks traced Justice Adjei’s career, highlighting not only his local judicial service but also his extensive academic, regional, and international contributions.
“This man has not only dispensed justice but built institutions that strengthen it,” Cudjoe asserted.
Justice Adjei served as Director of the Judicial Training Institute from 2014 to 2019, shaping professional legal education across Ghana.
He was also Dean of GIMPA’s Faculty of Law from 2019 to 2020, and has taught at the University of Cape Coast, KNUST, and currently at the Ghana School of Law, where he lectures on statutory interpretation, land law, and conveyancing.
Legal Reforms and Legislative Influence
Cudjoe spotlighted Adjei’s legal reform credentials, including his role on a five-member committee chaired by Chief Justice Georgina Woode in 2013 that developed Ghana’s Sentencing Guidelines.
In 2015, he chaired a criminal law review committee under then-Attorney General Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong to re-examine Ghana’s anti-corruption laws.
His contributions continued in 2018 under CJ Sophia Akuffo, when he served on another five-member committee to draft practice directions on disclosures and case management in criminal proceedings.
“He wasn’t just in the courtroom, he was in the engine room of justice policy,” said Cudjoe, who noted that Adjei also consulted for the Sierra Leone Judiciary and chaired its first judicial law reform conference in 2016.
Between 2012 and 2014, Adjei served two terms as President of the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana, further deepening his leadership footprint within the judiciary.
Academic and International Recognition
According to Franklin Cudjoe, Justice Adjei is a prolific legal author with six major textbooks to his name, including Constitutional Law of Ghana – Evolution, Theory & Practice (2020), Criminal Procedure & Practice in Ghana (3rd edition, 2021), and Land Law, Practice & Conveyancing in Ghana (3rd edition, 2021). He also co-authored The Alternative Dispute Resolution – A Ghanaian Perspective.
“He’s one of the few judges whose academic work is as influential as his judgments,” Cudjoe noted, emphasizing that Adjei’s books are standard references in courtrooms and law classrooms across Ghana.
Justice Adjei is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2022, he was appointed Senior Judges Fellow for Common Law Jurisdiction at the Inns of Court and Advanced Legal Institute of the University of London.
He previously chaired the Kenya-based Africa Judicial Network on Environmental Law between 2017 and 2021.
His academic journey includes studies at the University of Ghana, Legon, the Ghana School of Law, and later, the University of London, where he obtained a Master of Laws in Criminology and Criminal Justice. He also earned a Master of Laws in Judicial Studies from Duke Law School in the United States.
Cudjoe pointed out that Adjei is a devout Catholic, knighted by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 into the Order of St. Gregory the Great. Born on March 25, 1964, he was called to the Bar in 1993 and founded Holy Spirit Chambers in Kumasi.
Franklin Cudjoe’s response was both a commendation of Mahama’s selection and a critique of past judicial appointments. In his view, Adjei’s nomination represents a corrective moment in Ghana’s legal history.
“The question we must all ask is why a jurist of this calibre was ignored for so long. President Mahama has made the right call. Justice Adjei’s nomination is not only timely – it’s necessary”
Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President of IMANI Africa
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