Kofi Adumua Bossman (27 March 1907 – 1967) was a
Ghanaian
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
barrister, a jurist and a politician. He was a prominent legal practitioner based in
Accra in the 1940s and 1950s
prior to being called to the bench. He was a
Supreme Court Judge during the first republic. He was dismissed in 1964. In 1966 he was appointed as a member of the constitutional commission during the
National Liberation Council
The National Liberation Council (NLC) led the Ghanaian government from 24 February 1966 to 1 October 1969. The body emerged from a ''coup d'état'' against the Nkrumah government carried out jointly by the Ghana Police Service and Ghana Armed For ...
(NLC) regime.
Early life and education
Bossman was born on 27 March 1907 at
Prampram
Prampram is a coastal town in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The town is located in the Ningo Prampram District.
Prampram (Gbugbla), the capital of Ningo-Prampram, is 15 minutes' drive from the port city of Tema and 45 minutes from Accra, the ...
,
Greater Accra Region
The Greater Accra Region has the smallest area of Ghana's 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of 3,245 square kilometres. This is 1.4 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the second most populated region, befor ...
, Ghana (then
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
).
He began schooling at Wesleyan Infant Junior School in Prampram. He continued at Wesleyan Boys' School in Accra from 1913 to1916 and St. Edmundsbury East Anglican School in
Suffolk,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, from 1920 to 1923.
He had his tertiary education at
King's College,
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
from 1924 to 1928 where he was admitted as Edward Kofi Bossman. He enrolled as a student of
Lincoln's Inn in 1924 and was called to the degree of "utter barrister" in 1928.
Career
Upon his return to the Gold Coast, he began private legal practice in Accra at Kojo Thompson's chambers. In 1929, Bossman was a founding member of the Gold Coast Youth Conference and served as the first secretary of the group.
He was a member of the
Coussey Committee on constitutional reform from 1948 to 1949.
He once served as a general secretary of the Gold Coast Bar Association and in July 1955, he represented the association at the Commonwealth and Empire Law Conference in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
On 2 July 1956 he was called to the bench as a high court judge straight from the bar, and in 1962 he became a Supreme Court Judge.
In January 1964, the then president Dr.
Kwame Nkrumah held a referendum that gave him power to dismiss Supreme Court Judges and High Court Judges.
On 2 March 1964, Bossman together with
Edward Akufo-Addo
Edward Akufo-Addo (26 June 1906 – 17 July 1979) was a Ghanaian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the " Big Six" leaders of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) and one of the founding fathers of Ghana who engaged in the fight for ...
and
Robert Samuel Blay
Robert Samuel Blay, was a Ghanaian barrister and judge. He was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana during the First Republic. He is often referred to as the first Nzema people, Nzema lawyer. He was president of the Ghana Bar Association on t ...
were dismissed and their appointments revoked by the then president Kwame Nkrumah. In 1966, Bossman was appointed member of the constitutional commission. He died in 1967 while still a member of the commission.
While a private legal practitioner, Bossman went into politics. He was a member of the Mambii Party. On 25 February 1942, he contested a seat during the town council elections and won. He was later a member and general secretary of the National Democratic Party. He contested for a seat in Accra in the 1951 elections but lost. The party was later merged with the
United Gold Coast Convention
The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was a political party founded in 1947 whose aim was to bring about Ghanaian independence from their British colonial masters after the Second World War. The United Gold Coast Convention appointed its leade ...
to form the Congress Party in 1952.
Personal life
He married Ms. Motilewa Akiwumi in December 1930.
He is the father of W. A. N. Bossman, a lawyer and formerly president of the
Ghana Bar Association.
[The Momen]
"Prampram Land Saga.. How It All Begun"
''GhanaWeb'', 24 September 2012.
See also
*
List of judges of the Supreme Court of Ghana
This is a list of the judges of the Supreme Court of Ghana. The Constitution of Ghana provides for the court to be made up of the Chief Justice of Ghana and not less than nine other Justices of the Supreme Court. It shall be duly constituted by a ...
*
Supreme Court of Ghana
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blay, Robert Samuel
1907 births
1967 deaths
20th-century Ghanaian judges
Akan people
Justices of the Supreme Court of Ghana
Place of death missing