Speaking at his vetting before the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Justice Ackaah-Boafo, remarked, “The Judiciary, I will call it the arbiter of the nation… that is what is supposed to guide us.” He emphasized that he has always found the judicial role a fulfilling opportunity to serve this nation.
The learned Justice expressed concern about the limited number of lawyers in Ghana and how that affects legal representation across the country. He mentioned that as of May 2025, there were about eleven thousand (11,000) lawyers in Ghana, with about eight thousand (8,000) practicing. He said out of the 8000 practicing, in his father’s Western North, "I’m not sure they have more than five lawyers.” He explained that this translated into one lawyer for every two thousand (2,000) people, calling for measures to expand legal access.
To address this, Justice Ackaah-Boafo, proposed a national discussion on allowing law faculties that run LLB programs to also offer professional legal training. “We should enlarge it, but we should be very careful,” he cautioned, stressing the importance of quality instruction and the capacity of chambers to train new lawyers.
He also addressed the increasing public awareness of legal rights, which he said has led to higher demands on courts. “High courts used to be in only regional capitals. Now they are in district capitals. People are more aware and want to seek justice. We need lawyers to match that growth.” He noted the challenge self-represented litigants pose in courtrooms knowing that they have somebody who can advocate for them, is also very important.
Justice Kweku Tawiah Ackaah-Boafo, also advocated for the Judiciary to embrace artificial intelligence (AI), while calling for caution. “The Judiciary of Ghana must endeavor to make the Judiciary AI-literate,” he said. “However, we need to be very careful engaging this because… we will be able to know the dangers associated with it.” He again proposed the digitization of empaneling of Judges who sit on cases to address perceptions of bias in assigning Judges. “We should have a statutory legislation about electronic empaneling even at the Supreme Court,” he said. He further recommended having panel heads with the Chief Justice as one of them to whom cases would be randomly assigned.
In response to questions about Judges’ capacity, Justice Ackaah-Boafo, stated that while Judges are presumed competent upon appointment, continuous capacity building is important. He highlighted the lack of resources for judicial training, citing his own experience with the Judicial Training Institute (JTI). “Imagine being paid in June 2025, the last quarter payment of fuel for you in 2024,” he said, pointing to the challenges in funding. He stressed the importance of systemic support to attract and retain top legal minds on the bench: “Let’s make the job attractive, and I think we will be able to have the best of the brains to join the bench for the benefit of our nation.”