Frederick Kwasi Apaloo (9 January 1921 – 2 April 2000) was a Ghanaian judge who served as

Chief Justice of Kenya The chief justice of Kenya is a public office in the Republic of Kenya established under Article 161 of the country's Constitution as the head of the Judiciary of Kenya. Under Article 163, the chief justice also serves as the president of the S ...

from 1993 to 1995 and

Chief Justice of Ghana The chief justice of Ghana is the highest-ranking judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana. The chief justice is also the head of the Judiciary of Ghana and is responsible for its administration and supervision. In order of state precedence, the chief ...

from 1977 to 1986. He is the only judge to have served on the Supreme Court of Ghana under three Ghanaian republics.

Early life

Apaloo was born at Woe, a village near

Keta Keta is a coastal town and the capital of the Keta Municipal District in the Volta Region of Ghana. Keta was an important trading post between the 14th and the late 20th centuries. The town attracted the interest of the Danish, because they fe ...

in the

Volta Region Volta Region (or Volta) is one of Ghana's sixteen administrative regions, with Ho designated as its capital. It is located west of Republic of Togo and to the east of Lake Volta. Divided into 25 administrative districts, the region is multi- ...

of Ghana, then the Gold Coast. He lost his father when he was 7 years old so an uncle who was a

Kadjebi Kadjebi is a small town and is the capital of Kadjebi district, a district in the Oti Region of Ghana. Geography Location Kadjebi is located in the middle part of the Oti Region and not far from the Ghana-Togo Togo, officially the Togolese ...

merchant cared for him through school. His secondary education was at

Accra Academy Accra Academy is a Single-sex education, boys' high school located at Bubuashie near Kaneshie in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana. It admits both boarding and day students. Founded as a private school in 1931, it gained the status of a Government ...

which he graduated from in 1942. He subsequently read law at the

University College, Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

Apaloo was called to the

English bar Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...

in 1950 at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

Career

Apaloo returned to practise law in Ghana after his studies in England. He defended those involved in the

Anloga Anloga, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is a town in Anloga District of the Volta Region in southeast Ghana. It lies east of the Volta River and just south of the Keta Lagoon. Education * Anlo Senior High School * Keta ...

riots following widespread protests against the imposition of taxes by the British colonial administration. After Ghana attained its independence from British colonial rule, he was appointed a High Court Judge in 1960. In 1964, he presided over the treason trials of five persons including three close associates of President

Kwame Nkrumah Francis Kwame Nkrumah (, 21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained ...

. They were Tawia Adamafio, information minister,

Ebenezer Ako-Adjei Ako Adjei (17 June 1916 – 14 January 2002), was a Ghanaian political figure, statesman, politician, lawyer and journalist. He was a member of the United Gold Coast Convention and one of six leaders who were detained during Ghana's struggle fo ...

, foreign minister and Hugh Horatio Cofie Crabbe, secretary of the ruling

Convention People's Party The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a socialist political party in Ghana based on the ideas of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. The CPP was formed in June 1949 after Nkrumah broke away from the United Gold Coast Convention (UGC ...

. One of the other judges was

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 ...

who also later became Chief Justice in 1966 and ceremonial

President of Ghana The president of the Republic of Ghana is the elected head of state and head of government of Ghana, as well as commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces. The current president of Ghana is John Mahama, who won the 2024 presidential elect ...

in 1970. The acquittal led to the then president, Nkrumah trying to purge the judiciary. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1966 and to the

Supreme Court of Ghana The Supreme Court of Ghana is the highest judicial body in Ghana. Constitution of Ghana, Ghana's 1992 constitution guarantees the independence and separation of the Judiciary of Ghana, Judiciary from the Legislative and the Executive (governm ...

in 1971.

Chief Justice of Ghana

He was appointed Ghana's Chief Justice in 1977. He was the sixth person to hold this position since Ghana became an independent nation. This was during the era of the military Supreme Military Council of Ghana. On resumption of democratic rule under

Hilla Limann Hilla Limann, (12 December 1934 – 23 January 1998) was a Ghanaian diplomat and politician who served as the eighth president of Ghana from 1979 to 1981. He previously served as a diplomat in Lomé and in Geneva. Education Limann, whose origi ...

in September 1979, the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) (PNP; ) is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by Norman Manley, Norman Washington Manley who served as party president unti ...

government attempted to replace him as incumbent Chief Justice by insisting he be vetted for the office he already occupied. A Ghanaian citizen, Amoako Tuffuor, took the issue to the Supreme Court and the presiding judge, Justice E. N. P. Sowah, who succeeded him on his (Apaloo's) retirement, ruled that Apaloo became Chief Justice in the Third Republic as soon as the 1979 Ghanaian constitution came into force. He served through the third republic of Ghana and continued after the overthrow of the

Limann government This is a listing of the ministers who served in Limann's People's National Party government during the Third Republic of Ghana. The Third Republic was inaugurated on 24 September 1979. It ended with the coup on 31 December 1981, which brought t ...

on 31 December 1981. Due to his independence, the new military government, the

Provisional National Defence Council The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) was the name of the Ghanaian government after the People's National Party's elected government was overthrown by Jerry Rawlings, the former head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, in a coup ...

led by

Jerry Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (born Jerry Rawlings John; 22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer, aviator, and politician who led the country briefly in 1979 and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1993 and then se ...

also tried to remove him as Nkrumah had tried before but failed in 1983. He retired at the age of 65 years in 1986.

Chief Justice of Kenya

Kenya had a vacancy for Chief Justice in 1993 with no obvious candidate to fill it so he was appointed as the Chief Justice of

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in March 1993. He was noted to be against the death penalty while he was in Kenya. He remained Chief Justice until 1995 when he was succeeded by Abdul Majid Cockar.

Other positions

He also served on the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

Administrative Tribunal from 1990 until 1995.

Personal life

Apaloo married Georgina Kumasenu in 1953. They had two sons and three daughters.

Honours

*1979 – Companion of the

Order of the Volta The Order of the Volta is an order of merit from the Republic of Ghana. It was instituted in 1960 and is awarded to people for their outstanding service to the country.

(Ghana) *1986 -Elected a fellow of the

Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) is a learned society for the arts and sciences based in Accra, Ghana. The institution was founded in November 1959 by Kwame Nkrumah with the aim to promote the pursuit, advancement and dissemination ...

*1993 – Elder of the Golden Heart (

Hobbies

Apaloo's hobbies included dancing, boating and golf and tennis.

Notes

– {{DEFAULTSORT:Apaloo, Fred Alumni of University of London Worldwide Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Hull Members of the Middle Temple Alumni of the Accra Academy Elders of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya Ghanaian judges on the courts of Kenya 1921 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Ghanaian lawyers Chief justices of Kenya Recipients of the Order of the Volta Ewe people People from Volta Region Justices of the Supreme Court of Ghana Fellows of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences Ghanaian Christians Ghanaian expatriates in the United Kingdom