New residence for Chief Justice inaugurated in Accra (Photos)

A new official residence for the Chief Justice has been inaugurated in Accra.

It has a 60-seater capacity multipurpose room, a library and horticultural gardens, among other facilities, befitting the status of the fourth most powerful person in Ghana.

The incoming Chief Justice, Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo, will occupy the new structure as the current Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, will be retiring on June 8, 2017, after more than four decades in public service.

At a colourful ceremony in Accra, Mrs Justice Wood and Ms Justice Akuffo jointly cut the tape to officially open the building.  The Chairman of Development Committee of the Judicial Service, Rev. Prof. Seth Aryeetey, dedicated the building to God.

The ceremony was witnessed by the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, the High Court, members of the bar and staff of the judicial service.

New residence

The residence, which is built on a 2.24 acre land, replaces the more than four decades old official residence for chief justices of the Republic.

According to the consultants of the project, the building ensures optimum privacy to the facility.

“The landscaped areas are carefully configured in relation to the buildings to give emotional satisfaction to users,” the consultants said.

Maintenance culture

Mrs Justice Wood wished Ms Justice Akuffo and her family “a most peaceful and hallowed stay in this beautiful edifice.”

“It is truly a welcoming place for our new CJ,” Mrs Justice Wood said amid applause from the audience.

“As we celebrate and share the joy of dedicating the new property, we also embrace the shared vision and commitment to safeguard this investment with adherence to a strict maintenance culture for the upkeep of this edifice for future chief justices.

We charge our works department as the primary gatekeeper to safeguard this investment made by the government and people of Ghana,” Mrs Justice Wood continued and added that “there can be no doubt that we have created here a significant resource of which we can all be very proud and which will also stand as a symbol of pride in the position and work of a chief justice.”

Commendation

Mr Atta Akyea applauded Mrs Justice Wood for her able leadership.

He advised the incoming Chief Justice to liaise with the President to seek an upward adjustment of Internally Generated Funds (IGF) of the judiciary to be partly used for the maintenance of the building.

He said an investor had expressed interest in upgrading all court facilities across the country as well as putting up befitting residences for judges.

Background

“This site previously housed the official residence of the Chief Justice, which was constructed well over four decades ago. On my assumption of office, we realised there was an urgent need to construct a purpose-built residence with the full range of amenities as a befitting official home of the Chief Justice of the Republic,” Mrs Justice Wood stated.

She said the actual journey to provide a new home began two years ago.

 Mrs Justice Wood said she constituted a seven-member committee chaired by Ms Justice Akuffo to review the design brief.

The committee submitted a road map, which formed part of the basis of the design for the new residence.

Mrs Justice Wood thanked the architects, consultants, staff of the Judicial Service and all who worked tirelessly to ensure the successful completion of the structure.