Ofori Electronics honours Annie Jiagge

December 17, 2007 (Page 58)

Story: Mabel Aku Baneseh

AN electronic public address system has been inaugurated at the Court of Appeal in honour of the late Mrs Justice Ruth Annie Jiagge, the first Ghanaian female Court of Appeal judge.
The Court of Appeal was, in Mrs Justice Jiagge's, time the highest court in Ghana.
The public address system was provided by Mr K. Ofori Yeboah, the Managing Director of Ofori Electronics Company, who was once assisted by Mrs Justice Jiagge to establish the company.
Speaking at the ceremony at the weekend, Mr Yeboah said Mrs Justice Jiagge’s name “is very pronounced in the field of law. In this area, her rare stoicism and inborn resistance made her chalk up a series of firsts, despite the frustrations she faced from some quarters”.
He said Mrs Justice Jiagge played a very pivotal role in the establishment of his company and for that matter he was very delighted to establish the public address system in her honour.
Recounting how Mrs Justice Jiagge helped him, Mr Yeboah said she had visited The Netherlands in the 1970s and seen his radios christened "Ofori Soundz" which he had then produced for sale in some shops in The Hague.
Upon seeing his works, Mrs Justice Jiagge convinced Mr Yeboah to set up his business in Ghana and, in the process, she helped him to secure a $300,000 import licence, among others.
"Indeed, as our friendship grew from strength to strength, I learnt so much from her. Some of her unique qualities which impacted greatly on me were her humility, her zeal for hard work, her commitment to duty, her loyalty to her country, her desire to promote made-in-Ghana goods and, above all, her insatiable appetite for truth and fair play," Mr Yeboah said.
"I also hope that this simple gesture of mine will propel this country further in our court computerisation programme, which, I think, is one of the pillars to move justice delivery forward," he added.
In his address, a Supreme Court judge, Mr Justice S.A. Brobbey, on behalf of the Judicial Service expressed his gratitude to Mr Yeboah for his gesture.
He expressed the hope that the installed equipment would further facilitate the delivery of justice in the country.
The late Mrs Justice Jiagge (nee Baeta), a lawyer, social worker, women's rights activist and diplomat, was born on October 9, 1918.
She was admitted to the London School of Economics and Politics in 1946 and later enrolled at Lincoln's Inn on February 26, 1947 to study both academic and professional qualifications in Law and was called to the Utter Bar on June 21, 1950.
Rising through the ranks from being the first female magistrate, Mrs Justice Jiagge was appointed an Appeal Court judge in 1969.