Supreme Court nominee Justice Kweku T Ackaah-Boafo

As the vetting of Supreme Court nominee Justice Kweku T Ackaah-Boafo resumes on June 20, 2025, new details have emerged from a past court judgment in which the judge criticised his now-petitioner, Anthony Kwabenya Rau, over what he described as a "fictional and selfish narrative" presented under the guise of activism.

Justice Ackaah-Boafo, in a 2019 High Court ruling, took issue with a three-page protest letter submitted by Rau, then a director of a company involved in the vehicle license plate embossment business.

The letter, which was presented as evidence in court, accused other companies in the sector of widespread corruption, incompetence, and even criminal conduct, while portraying Rau’s firm as the sole ethical player.

The judge was unconvinced. In his written judgment, he noted that Rau’s claims were made without a “scintilla of proof” and that his sweeping accusations unjustly discredited an entire industry the plaintiff had only recently joined then.

“To my mind, the Plaintiff’s director who claims to be a German human rights activist engaged in a fictional and selfish narrative for his own gain and benefit by claiming to be the ‘Messiah’ of Ghanaian drivers,” Justice Ackaah-Boafo wrote.

He further criticized Rau’s attempts to leverage sensationalism to secure contracts under the pretense of foreign expertise and altruism, “The public space and the court are not forums for self-serving sensationalism and aggrandizement. Therefore, Mr. Abebrese Rau and his like should spare Ghanaians such self-glorified epistles.”

Despite these remarks, Justice Ackaah-Boafo ruled in favour of the plaintiff on the substantive issues and awarded him a nominal cost of GH¢5,000.

Fast forward to 2025, Rau resurfaced as the author of a petition to Parliament’s Appointments Committee, accusing Justice Ackaah-Boafo of judicial bias, misconduct, and inappropriate courtroom conduct during that very case.

The petition had temporarily delayed the judge’s Supreme Court vetting, with claims that he insulted Rau and questioned his legitimacy as a human rights advocate.

Rau described the nominee as “arrogant, biased, power-drunk, and an abuser of human rights,” and alleged political bias by claiming that Justice Ackaah-Boafo had been promoted after ruling in favour of both NPP and NDC-aligned individuals.

In an especially provocative statement, he referred to the judge as a “political prostitute.”

However, after reviewing the allegations, Parliament has dismissed the petition for lacking merit.

The Speaker of Parliament and the Appointments Committee concluded that the accusations did not meet the required threshold for investigation, paving the way for the nominee’s vetting to proceed as scheduled.

Justice Ackaah-Boafo, who currently serves on the Court of Appeal, is the final nominee of President John Dramani Mahama to be considered for a seat on Ghana’s Supreme Court.

AM/KA

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