Yonny Kulendi

Last updated

Justice
Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi
Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana
Assumed office
2020
Alma mater University of Ghana
Profession Judge

Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi is a Ghanaian judge. He is an active Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana. He was nominated and appointed a Supreme Court judge in 2020.

Contents

Early life and education

Kulendi was born on 29 November 1963. [2] He hails from Issa, a village in the Upper West Region of Ghana. [3] His father was a World War II veteran and his mother brewed and sold Pito in Wa Zongo. [3] He is the fourth of seven children of his mother. [3]

He had his early education at Ndama Primary School before proceeding to Wa Secondary School (now Wa Senior High Technical School). [3] During his fifth year in secondary school, he spent almost two years in the Wa prisons on remand, and this incident made him resolve all the more to be a lawyer. [3] Following the incident, Kulendi joined Navrongo Senior High School where he registered as a private student for his O-Level examination. [4] He later proceeded to New Juaben Senior High School from 1985 to 1987, where he had his sixth form. [4] From 1988 to 1989, he was at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. [4] He later transferred to the University of Ghana where he was awarded his bachelor of laws degree in 1992. [5] [6] He continued at the Ghana School of Law where he obtained he became a barrister-at-law in 1994. [5] [6] He holds a master of arts degree in International Security and Civil-Military Relations from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, United States. [6]

Career

Kulendi had his advanced level national service in Bolgatanga and his post-university national service at the Legal Aid Board of Accra. [6] After his service, he joined the Akufo-Addo, Prempeh and Co. Chambers, where he underwent pupilage. [5] [6] He later founded his own law firm, Kulendi @ Law, where he worked as the firm's managing partner until his appointment to the bench. [6] As a lawyer, his areas of expertise included; Investments, Securities, Commercial Law, Criminal Law, and Litigation. [5] Kulendi is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Africa Leadership Initiative-West Africa and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. [6] He also served as an examiner at the Ghana School of Law. [7]

Supreme Court appointment

On 17 March 2020, the president, Nana Akufo-Addo informed the Speaker of Parliament, Mike Oquaye that consultations had been completed for the nomination of Kulendi and three other persons to be made justices of the Supreme Court of Ghana. [8] The speaker of parliament announced his nomination together with the three others to parliament on 19 March 2020 for vetting and approval. [8]

Kulendi was vetted, together with Justice Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, on Tuesday 12 May 2020. [9] Following his vetting by parliament, Kulendi was approved by parliament on Wednesday, 20 May 2020, [10] and sworn into office on Tuesday 26 May 2020. [11] Kulendi became the first Ghanaian from the Upper West Region to be appointed to serve on Ghana's highest court of jurisdiction. [3]

His appointment also now makes him a part of a small group of persons who were called to the Supreme Court bench directly from the bar. They include; Edward Akufo-Addo who went on to become a Chief Justice of Ghana and the second president of Ghana, Justice Robert Samuel Blay who became the first president of the Ghana Bar Association and Justice Nene Amegatcher who was also once president of the Ghana Bar Association. [11]

Personal life

Kulendi is married, and a father of four children. [3]

Related Research Articles

Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu is a Ghanaian politician and lawyer who served as Attorney General and Minister for Justice in Ghana from 2011 to 2012 and then as the First Special Prosecutor of the country from 2018 until his resignation in 2020, citing political interference by the President, Nana Akufo-Addo. He is also known for introducing the word ‘gargantuan‘, into the body politics of Ghana, when he opened investigations in the Woyome scandal which was one of the highest profiled corruption cases at the time. On 11 January 2018, Martin A.B.K Amidu was named by the President of Ghana as the Special Prosecutor for the newly created Office of the Special Prosecutor. Nana Akufo-Addo touted his anti-corruption fights as Attorney General and a private citizen as reasons for choosing Mr. Amidu, his one-time political adversary.

Kwasi Anin-Yeboah is a Ghanaian judge and the immediate past Chief Justice of Ghana. In December 2019, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo nominated Justice Anin-Yeboah as the Chief Justice of Ghana.

Henrietta Joy Abena Nyarko Mensa-Bonsu, is a Supreme Court Judge of the Republic of Ghana. She was nominated by president Nana Akufo-Addo. She is the 5th female member of the Court. Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, she was a Ghanaian law professor who served as a member of the United Nations Independent Panel On Peace Operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Abu Jinapor</span> Ghanaian lawyer and politician

Samuel Abu Jinapor, is a Ghanaian lawyer and a politician. He is a member of the New Patriotic Party and the Member of Parliament for the Damongo Constituency. In 2017, President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo appointed him as Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Operations at the Office of the President, at the age of 33, the youngest in the history of Ghana to occupy such a position. He is currently the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and assumed position as caretaker Minister of Trade and Industry on 16 January 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Ghanaian general election</span>

General elections were held in Ghana on 7 December 2020. Incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was re-elected in the first round after securing a majority of the votes. Former President John Dramani Mahama announced that he would contest the results. At the Supreme Court, a petition challenging the result was filed on 30 December, and unanimously dismissed on 4 March 2021 for lack of merit.

Mariama Owusu is a Ghanaian judge. She has been on the bench since 1990 and was nominated a judge of the Supreme Court Judge in November 2019. She was sworn in on 17 December 2019 after gaining parliamentary approval.

Her Ladyship JusticeGertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo is a Ghanaian judge. She was nominated to the Supreme Court in November 2019 and received parliamentary approval in December 2019. She was sworn in on 17 December 2019. She was nominated to the office of Chief Justice in April 2023 to replace Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah who retired as Chief Justice on May 24, 2023. She was sworn into office as the 15th Chief Justice of Ghana on 12 June 2023.

Avril Lovelace-Johnson is a Ghanaian judge. She was nominated for the position of a Supreme Court of Ghana judge in November 2019 and received parliamentary approval in December 2019. She was sworn in on 17 December 2019. She has been on the bench in Ghana since 1994 and was appointed a Supreme Court judge in 2019.

Agnes Mercy Abla Dordzie is a Ghanaian judge. She was an active justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana until October 2022. She was appointed justice of the Supreme Court in 2018.

Nene Abayateye Ofoe Amegatcher is a Ghanaian lawyer, academic and judge. He served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 3 October 2018 to 28 July 2023.

Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu is a Supreme Court judge of the Republic of Ghana.

Clemence Jackson Honyenuga was a Ghanaian judge. He is an active Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 22 May 2020 until 4 September 2022.

Barbara Frances Ackah-Yensu is a Ghanaian judge. She is an active Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana. She has been on the bench in Ghana since 2003 and was appointed a Supreme Court judge in 2022.

Samuel Kwame Adibu Asiedu is a Ghanaian judge. He is an active Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana. He has been on the bench in Ghana since 1996 and became a Supreme Court judge in 2022.

Ernest Yao Gaewu is a Ghanaian lawyer and judge who is in active service at the Supreme Court of Ghana.

George Kingsley Koomson is a Ghanaian judge who serves as an active justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana.

Anthony Henry Kwofie is a Ghanaian judge, an active justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana and president of the Association of Magistrates and Justices of Ghana.

Yaw Darko Asare is a Ghanaian jurist and an active justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana.

Richard Adjei-Frimpong is a Ghanaian judge and an active justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana.

References

  1. ↑ Service, Judicial. "Four New Supreme Court Justices Sworn into Office". Judiciary Of Ghana. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  2. ↑ Service, Judicial. "Four New Supreme Court Justices Sworn into Office". Judiciary Of Ghana. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Story of renowned lawyer Yonny Kulendi ahead of vetting – AM News on JoyNews (12-5-20)". JoyNews TV. 12 May 2020 – via YouTube.
  4. 1 2 3 Live: Vetting of Supreme Court Justice Nominee, Yoni Kulendi – Joy News Today (12-5-20) , retrieved 14 December 2022
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Yonny Kulendi". Martindale. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Yonny Kulendi". AGLN. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "Supreme Court Justice nominee, Yonny Kulendi calls for reforms in legal education". Citinewsroom – Comprehensive News in Ghana. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Akufo-Addo nominates Henrietta Mensa Bonsu and 3 others to Supreme Court bench". Graphic Online. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  9. ↑ "Prof. Mensa-Bonsu, Kulendi sail through vetting". Graphic Online. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  10. ↑ "Overlook vetting challenges – Akufo-Addo to Justice Honyenuga". Ghanaweb. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Supreme Court Justices Mensa-Bonsu and Yonny Kulendi sworn into office". Graphic Online. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.