Chief Justice Who Served Both Kenya and Ghana in Same Capacity

Justice Fred Kwasi Apaloo was the ninth Chief Justice of independent Kenya and served at the helm of the Judiciary for a year in 1993.

Interestingly, Apaloo had earlier had the distinction of serving as the Chief Justice the Republic of Ghana between 1977 and 1986.

The former Kenya and Ghana CJ was born on January 9, 1921, at Woe, near Keta, the Volta Region of Ghana.

Apaloo attended the Accra Academy and University College, then studied law in Hull, England, and was admitted to the Bar at the Honorary Society of the Middle Temple Inn.

He returned to Ghana to practice law and was appointed to the position of High Court judge after Ghana attained her independence in 1957. Apaloo's ability made him an obvious candidate for the judiciary.

Apaloo's ability was an obvious candidate for the position because of his demonstrated independence and mastery of the English language, Ghanian Judiciary records show.

As a judge in Ghana, he distinguished himself by acquitting five persons, including three associates of President Kwame Nkrumah, Tawia Adamafio, Ako Adjei and Hugh Horatio Cofie Crabbe, who had been charged with treason against his regime.

Apaloo was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1966 and later, to the Supreme Court of Ghana in 1971, despite the bad blood with the Nkrumah government.

 

In 1977, he was appointed Chief Justice of Ghana. 

As Chief Justice of Ghana, Apaloo remained unshakeably independent, never shrinking from judgments that went against his country's government.

In 1983, then-President of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah tried to have him removed. Allegations against him, however, did not stand in court, and Apaloo successfully held on to his post for nine years until his statutory retirement at 65. 

He left joined the World Bank Administrator Tribunal where he served until towards the end of the decade.

The Ghanian joined the Kenyan Judiciary in the late 1980s as a High Court judge and rose to become a Court of Appeal Judge in 1989. 

In 1993, Kenya found itself with a vacancy for Chief Justice and no obvious candidate to fill it, Apaloo was appointed to the post, which he did with success. Apaloo was the recipient of the Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart (EGH).

He died at the age of 79 on June 9, 2000.

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