Kobina Arku Korsah | |
---|---|
1st Chief Justice of Ghana | |
In office 6 March 1957 – December 1963 |
|
Preceded by | New Position |
Succeeded by | Julius Sarkodee-Addo |
13th Chief Justice of the Gold Coast |
|
In office 1956 – 6 March 1957 |
|
Preceded by | Sir Mark Wilson |
Succeeded by | None |
Personal details | |
Born |
Saltpond, Ghana |
3 April 1894
Died | 25 January 1967 Ghana |
(aged 72)
Sir Kobina Arku Korsah (3 April 1894, Saltpond – 25 January 1967) was the first black Chief Justice of Ghana (then the Gold Coast) in 1956.
Born in Saltpond, Korsah was educated at Mfantsipim School, Fourah Bay College (BA degree in 1915),Durham University and London University (LLB in 1919).
In 1942, Nana Sir Ofori Atta and Sir Arku Korsah were the first two Ghanaians to be appointed to the Legislative Council by the then Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Alan Burns. Korsah was one of the 20 founding members of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1959. After the Kulungugu attack on President Kwame Nkrumah in August 1962, Sir Arku Korsah presided over the trial of five defendants. At the end of that trial, three of the accused were found not guilty and this displeased the Nkrumah government. Nkrumah sacked Sir Arku as Chief Justice in December 1963 unconstitutionally.