Justice William Atuguba is a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana and one of the most well-known faces on the bench. After his legal education, he began his career as a private practitioner before joining the Judicial Service of Ghana in 1995 as a state attorney and rising through the ranks until his appointment as a magistrate of the court. Blessed with a fierce intellect and of impeccable character, it was no surprise when he was elevated to the Supreme Court.
From the highest court of the land, he handed down several significant judgements and opinions that furthered the cause of the rule of law and expanded the freedoms of citizens. To his colleagues he was an affable and dependable colleague, whose Latin-suffused judgements marked the breadth of his scholarship. As the most senior judge on the bench, he was often the one to act when the Chief Justice was away.
But it was in 2013, when Justice Atuguba was chosen to preside over the nine-member panel that decided the election petition brought by three members of the New Patriotic Party to challenge the results of the 2012 election that the Ghanaian public finally got to meet and admire the venerable judge. As the television coverage proceeded, his fairness, faithfulness to a procedural correctitude, tolerance and sense of humor won him the hearts of many observers. These same qualities also enabled him to carry out his functions as Chairperson of the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council. Justice Atuguba retired from the bench in 2018.
