Samuel Azu Crabbe - Career

Career

Samuel Azu Crabbe returned to Ghana after his training in the UK, where he practised as a barrister and solicitor from 1950 onwards. He became a High Court judge in 1959 and was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana in 1961. Azu Crabbe performed other roles in addition to his judicial responsibilities. He was once the head of the National Finance Board during the rule of the National Liberation Council, which had overthrown the Nkrumah government. In 1967, he was appointed the head of a commission of enquiry (the Azu Crabbe commission) to probe the assets of Kwame Nkrumah, the former president of Ghana. He was appointed Chief Justice by the National Redemption Council (NRC) in 1973. The NRC was the military government that had overthrown the Busia government on 13 January 1972. In 1977, he was awarded a gold medal by the International Association of Trial Lawyers in recognition of his achievements. The NRC had been reorganized into the Supreme Military Council (SMC) in 1975 with General Acheampong still as the Head of state of Ghana. The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) later passed a vote of no confidence in his administration. Under pressure from the GBA, the SMC published a new decree, the Judicial Service (Amendment) Decree, 1977 (SMCD 101), retiring him from the office of Chief Justice. This decree, which named him specifically, had been added to the statute books just for his dismissal.