Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the Minister of State in charge of Presidential Spokesperson and Government Communications, stated that procedures were in place to replace Justice Sophia Akuffo, who left her post as a member of the Council of State in September 2025.
At a news conference at the Presidency on Monday [June 15, 2026], Mr. Kwakye Ofosu confirmed media rumours of the resignation and stated that President John Mahama has subsequently accepted it.
The procedures to replace her were in progress “as we speak, and so in due course, a replacement will be announced for Justice Sophia Akuffo.
At the press briefing on Monday, Mr. Kwakye Ofosu stated, “I can confirm that Justice Sophia A.B. Akuffo has resigned from her position as a member of the Council of State. She submitted a letter in September 2025 to the President indicating her desire to resign.”
“She did not disclose the reason for wanting to resign. When the President received the letter, he was required then to indicate his acceptance of the resignation but at the behest of the Council of State, he had to hold on because they said they wanted to engage Justice Sophia Akuffo to see if there was some grievance that she had that was informing the resignation, whether or not there was a way that it could be addressed, so they asked the President to hold on with the acceptance,” Mr Kwakye Ofosu added.
“But they [Council of State] got back and said they had engaged and as far as they were concerned, the resignation could be accepted, so the President has formally accepted her resignation, and she is no longer a member of the Council of State.”
“The law is clear on what processes to undertake to replace her as we speak, and so in due course, a replacement will be announced for Justice Sophia Akuffo,” he added.
Justice Sophia Akuffo was on the Council of State in her position as a former Chief Justice.
In addition to being one of the 31 members of the current Council of State advisory council, which is presided over by former Speaker of Parliament Edward Doe Adjaho, she was Chief Justice from 2017 to 2020.
In accordance with the 1992 Constitution, which stipulates that a former Chief Justice should be a member of the Council, she had earlier this year made it clear that she was sitting on the Council of State in her personal capacity as a former Chief Justice rather than on behalf of the Judiciary.
When the Council of State decided in April 2025 on whether a prima facie case had been proven against a petition seeking the removal of then Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo from office, she dissented, which led to her departure.
At the then-suspended Chief Justice Torkornoo’s request, she later testified in her defence before the Article 146 committee.
Justice Sophia Akuffo openly condemned the proceedings in a September 2025 interview, saying that Justice Torkornoo had not been given a fair hearing.
She called the procedure a “treason trial,” cautioned that it had undermined the judiciary, and said that the accusations against Torkornoo were not serious enough to warrant the dismissal of the head of a legal institution.
A constitutional body, the Council of State is tasked with advising the President on matters of national significance.
Source: newsthemegh.com