Samuel Kofi Marful-Sau (3 February 1957 – 10 August 2021) was a Ghanaian judge. He was an active justice of 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 ...

. Marful-Sau was born in Assin Adubiase in the Central Region. After qualifying as a Barrister-at-law in 1984 he worked at the office of 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 ...

and entered private legal practice prior to being called to the High Court bench in June 2002. He subsequently became an Appeal Court judge in 2006 and in 2018 he was appointed justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana. He was nominated in 2018 by the president

Nana Akufo-Addo William Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ( ; born 29 March 1944) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the 13th president of Ghana from January 2017 to January 2025. He previously served as Attorney General of Ghana, Attorney General from 2001 to 20 ...

in consultation with

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

and the advice of the Judicial Council.

Early life and education

Marful-Sau was born on 3 February 1956 at Assin Edubiase in the

Assin South District Assin South District is one of the twenty-two districts in Central Region, Ghana. Originally it was formerly part of the then-larger Assin District in 1988, until the southern part of the district was split off to create Assin South District on 1 ...

of the Central Region. He began his formal education at Methodist Primary School in Assin Edubiase from 1963 to 1965. He continued his elementary education at Sempe '1' Primary and Middle School in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

from 1965 to 1969, he later enrolled at the Urban Council Middle 'A' School at

Mankessim Mankessim is a town in the Central Region of Ghana, West Africa. It is approximately 75 km west of Accra, on the main road to Sekondi-Takoradi. It is the traditional headquarters of the Fante ethnic group of Ghana. Mankessim's history is linked ...

where he studied from 1969 to 1972. His secondary school education began at Assin Manso Secondary School,

Assin Manso Assin Manso is a town in the Central Region, Ghana, Central Region of Ghana. It is located 40 kilometers along the Cape Coast - Kumasi highway. The town is well known for the role it played as a slave market during the slave trade. It is also kno ...

, he later moved to Feden High School where he studied from September 1973 to June 1974. He later enrolled at Breman Asikuma Secondary School in September 1974. There, he received his Ordinary Level ('O'-Level) certificate in June 1977. He proceeded to Navrongo Secondary School in September 1977 and obtained his Advanced Level ('A'-Level) certificate there in June 1979. He entered the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast ...

in August 1979 and graduated with his

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree in July 1982. He continued at the

Ghana School of Law The Ghana School of Law (GSL) is an educational institution in Ghana for training lawyers. The school is the only institution responsible for training for law graduates in the Professional Law Course (PLC) programme and the Post-Call Law Course. ...

where he received his Barrister-at-Law in 1984. In September 2008 he entered the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to pursue a Master's degree (LL.M.) in Petroleum Law and Policy. He graduated in October 2009.

Career

Marful-Sau was admitted to practice in Ghana as a Barrister-at-Law and Solicitor in 1984. He began his career as a national service personnel working in the capacity of a Legal Assistant at the Castle Information Bureau Office of the

(PNDC) and briefly as a prosecutor in the office of the Special Public Prosecutor from August 1984 to July 1986. During the period of his national service, he was selected to study a six-month course in Intelligence Studies at the Security and Intelligence Academy in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. In July 1986, he was attached to the office of the PNDC, he remained there until September 1987. A month later, Marful-Sau joined Vidal. L. Buckle and Company as a private legal practitioner. While in private practice, his areas of expertise included: Nationality, Immigration, Corporate, Commercial and Insurance Law. He remained in private legal practice until June 2002 when he was called to the bench as a judge of the High Court. While in private legal practice, Marful-Sau was a member of the Law Reform Commission from August 1998 to October 2005 and a member of the Ghana Frequency Regulation Control Board from 1993 to 1998. He rose through the ranks as a justice of the high court to a justice of the appeal court, serving in that capacity from November 2006 to 2018 when he was appointed justice of the

Appointment

Marful-Sau was nominated together with three other judges (Justice

Agnes Dordzie Agnes Mercy Abla Dordzie is a Ghanaian judge. She was an active justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana until October 2022. She was appointed justice of the Supreme Court in 2018. Dordzie was born in Taviefe-Deme in the Volta Region. After her stu ...

, Justice Professor Nii Ashie Kotey and Justice

Nene Amegatcher Nene Abayateye Ofoe Amegatcher is a Ghanaian lawyer, academic and judge. He served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 3 October 2018 to 28 July 2023. He was born in Suhum, where he began his formal education. After his call to the Ba ...

) by the president of

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

in 2018. After the names of the nominated judges were sent to parliament, there were claims that his appointment and the appointment of Justice Agnes Dordzie were rewards and not justified as their promotions occurred after they (Justice Samuel Marful-Sau and Justice Agnes Dordzie) recommended that the Electoral Commission Chair, Mrs.

Charlotte Osei Charlotte Kesson-Smith Osei (born 1 February 1969) is the UN International Elections Commissioner, a Ghanaian lawyer and former chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana from 2015 until she was dismissed in June 2018 on grounds of financ ...

be removed from office. The government, however, dismissed these claims claiming the nominations were in consultation with the

and based on the advice of the Judicial Council. He was part of a seven-member panel that will be hearing the 2020 election petition by

John Mahama John Dramani Mahama (; born 29 November 1958) is a Ghanaian politician who has been the 14th president of Ghana since January 2025. A member of the National Democratic Congress (Ghana), National Democratic Congress (NDC), he served as the 12th p ...

against The Electoral Commission of Ghana and Nana Akufo-Addo.

Publication

* ''A Practical Guide to Civil Procedure in Ghana'' (2017)

Death

Samuel Marful-Sau died on 10 August 2021 at the Ga East Hospital after a short illness. He was 64 years old.

References