Chief Justice nominee, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, has revealed that he resigned from the Ghana Prison Service in 1990 to allow his wife to continue her career after authorities said he could not marry a junior officer.
The 68-year-old judge made the disclosure on Monday [Nov 11, 2025], when appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for vetting.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie said he joined the Prisons Service in 1988 after five years of legal practice and underwent six months of training before being posted to Sekondi, where he met his future wife.
“At the time I met my wife, she was a buck private with no rank, actually a sixth former who was just starting her career in the Prisons Service,” he told the committee.
He explained that after two years in the service, during which he had risen to the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Prisons, he was informed that he could not marry a junior officer because they would not be allowed to attend the officers’ mess together.
“So I opted out of the Prisons Service so that she could stay,” Justice Baffoe-Bonnie said.
He later joined the Internal Revenue Service in 1990 as a legal officer in charge of the Eastern and Volta regions, a position he held for two years before joining the bench in December 1992.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie also addressed claims that his nomination was a reward for his role in the 2012 election petition, which ruled in favour of then-President John Dramani Mahama.
“I would actually be disappointed if my only qualification for this nomination is because I voted for the President in 2013,” he said, referring to the 2012 election petition heard in 2013.
He stated that his career record showed he had worked under governments of different political persuasions.
I became a judge under Chairman Rawlings. Then I was promoted to High Court in 2000 and sworn in by the then Vice-President, Professor Mills. I was later elevated to the Court of Appeal and then Supreme Court by President Kufuor,” he explained.
He added, “So if 17 years later another president decides to elevate me to the position of Chief Justice, I think I cut across all political boundaries.”
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie was born on December 26, 1956. He attended Konongo Odumase Senior High School, completing his O-levels in 1974 and A-levels in 1976. He obtained a BA Law degree from the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1979 and graduated from the Ghana School of Law in 1981.
He was called to the bar in 1983 after spending two years teaching in Nigeria. He practised law for about five years at the chambers of Dr Takyi-Tabi in Sekondi and later at KJTR Chambers in Kumasi, where he worked with the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John).
He has been a judge since 1992, serving as a Circuit Court judge for seven years, a High Court judge for six years, a Court of Appeal judge for two years, and a Supreme Court judge for 17 years.
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie was nominated to act as Chief Justice on April 22, 2025, during what he described as “a period of turbulence.”
