Supreme Court nominee, Justice Kweku Tawiah Ackaah-Boafo, has expressed strong support for maintaining the current retirement age of 70 for judges in Ghana, stating that the nature of judicial work demands adequate time for rest and recovery after years of national service.

Speaking during his vetting before the Parliamentary Appointments Committee on Friday, 20 June, Justice Ackaah-Boafo described the judicial profession as “mentally exhausting” and argued that justices should be allowed to retire at a reasonable age to prioritise their health and family life.

“The reality is this: I think—I do not have any statistics—but indications are there that people retire at 70 and within a short time, they join the other side,” he said. “The work of a judge is a stressful one. You burn the midnight oil; you sit up and write judgments.”

While acknowledging that some countries have a higher judicial retirement age, he noted that those systems often make provisions to ease workloads for ageing judges.

“Even in other jurisdictions where they have 75 years as retirement age, when you’re about hitting 70, you can choose to be a ‘supernumerary’, which means you’ve cut down your work. You choose what to do, and they give the heavy work to those who are young,” he explained.

Justice Ackaah-Boafo concluded that maintaining the existing retirement threshold would ensure a better work-life balance for judges at the end of their careers.
“So, I think the 70 is good enough. Let’s stick to it, so that when we retire, we can have time to spend with family,” he said.