Ministry of Justice (Ghana)

The Ministry of Justice & Attorney General's Office of Ghana oversees legal matters that pertain to the State's executive power and drafts any legislation accordingly. The Attorney General is responsible for any civil cases and acts as the defendant on behalf of Ghana. The Ministry of Justice was founded in 1951 as a result of the recommendations made by the Lidbury Commission whereas the position of Attorney General originated in 1877.^[1]

The Attorney General is responsible for the Ministry of Justice.

History

The Ministry of Justice was created in 1951 after the Lidbury Commission was established to come up with recommendations upon reviewing the Gold Coast Civil Service.^[2] The commission established that the establishment of ministries by the then newly established Gold Coast government, headed by Kwame Nkrumah (then Prime Minister and Head of Government Business), was to be modelled under the British Home Office. A Ministry of Justice was then created and headed by P. F. Branigan, an English expatriate.^[3] The ministry was to incorporate the duties of the Attorney General as it oversaw the Attorney General department. The ministry later became the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General. In 1954 when the first all African government was formed in the Gold Coast, the Ministry of Justice did not exist. It was merged with the Ministry of Interior, and the name of the ministry was; Ministry of Interior.^[4]

In 1956, when a new government was formed following the re-election of Kwame Nkrumah as Prime Minister, the Ministry of Interior became the Ministry of Interior and Justice, and the Ministry was headed by Ebenezer Ako-Adjei, who became the first Ghanaian responsible for the ministry after Ghana gained its independence in March 1957. Following Ghana's independence in 1957, the Ministry of Interior  and Justice was split to form the Ministry of Justice (becoming  a ministry on its own) and the Ministry Interior. This time, the Ministry of Justice did not oversee the Attorney General department as a Ministry for the Attorney General had been created on 7 August 1957 and headed by Geoffrey Bing. Ako-Adjei then became the first Minister of Justice for Ghana from 1957 to 1958. The Ministry was responsible for the functions of the Land Boundaries Settlement Commission, financial and ministerial matters with relation to the Supreme Court, local court and Customary Law, and foreign processes.^[5] In 1958, the ministry was merged with the Ministry of Local Government and Kofi Asante Ofori-Atta was put at the helm of its affairs. The Ministry was later split in September 1961 to become its own Ministry when the Ministry of Local Government was merged with the Ministry of Interior and headed by Kwaku Boateng.^[6] Ofori-Atta remained Minister for Justice from 1961 until 1965 when he was appointed Speaker of Parliament. The Ministry of Justice was then merged with the ministry for the Attorney General. The portfolio of the Attorney General consequently became; the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.^[7] The Ministry was headed by the then Attorney General; B. E. Kwaw-Swanzy. From then onwards to date, the Ministry of the Attorney General has been incorporated with the Ministry of Justice.

The Judicial service named Mrs Regina Ayerko Apotsi as the first woman Judicial Secretary (13th). A statement on Friday signed by Adbullah Iddrisu, Acting Deputy Judicial Secretary. She assumed duty on December 1, 2004.

List of ministers

Number	Minister	Portfolio	Took office	Left office	Government	Party
1	Ebenezer Ako-Adjei	Minister for Interior and Justice	1956	August 1957	Nkrumah government	Convention People's Party
		Minister for Justice	August 1957	1958
2	Kofi Asante Ofori-Atta	Minister for Justice and Local Government	1958	September 1961
		Minister for Justice	September 1961	1965
3	Bashiru Kwaw-Swanzy	Minister for Justice and Attorney General	1965	February 1966
4	Victor Owusu		1966	April 1969	National Liberation Council	Military government
5	Nicholas Yaw Boafo Adade		April 1969	September 1969
			14 September 1969	January 1971[8]	Busia government	Progress Party
6	Victor Owusu		January 1971	12 January 1972
7	Edward Nathaniel Moore		13 January 1972	8 October 1975	National Redemption Council	Military government
8	Gustav Koranteng-Addow		9 October 1975	January 1979[9]	Supreme Military Council	Military government
9	Austin N. E. Amissah		1 January 1979	23 September 1979	Armed Forces Revolutionary Council	Military government
10	Joe Reindorf		24 September 1979	August 1981	Limann government	People's National Party
11	A. L. Djabatey		1 October 1981	31 December 1981
12	G. E. K. Aikins		25 June 1982	1988	Provisional National Defence Council	Military government
13	E. G. Tanoh		14 December 1988	1 April 1993
14	Anthony Forson		1 March 1993	30 October 1993	Rawlings government	National Democratic Congress
	Obed Asamoah (Acting AG)		November 1993	May 1997
15	Obed Asamoah		May 1997	6 January 2001
16	Nana Akufo-Addo		1 February 2001[10]	24 April 2003	Kufuor government	New Patriotic Party
17	Papa Owusu-Ankomah		1 April 2003[11]	2005
18	J. Ayikoi Otoo		1 February 2005[12]	2006
19	Joe Ghartey		16 June 2006	7 January 2009 [13]
20	Betty Mould-Iddrisu [1st female][14]		2009	2011	Mills government	National Democratic Congress
21	Martin Amidu		4 January 2011[15]	2012
22	Benjamin Kunbuor		25 January 2012[16]	24 October 2012
			24 October 2012	7 January 2013	Mahama government
23	Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong		February 2013[17]	7 January 2017
24	Gloria Akuffo		February 2017[18]	January 2021	Akuffo Addo government	New Patriotic Party
25	Godfred Yeboah Dame		January 2021	Incumbent

See Attorney General of Ghana

See also

• Attorney General of Ghana
• Justice ministry
• Politics of Ghana