Nii Ashie Kotey

Nii Ashie Kotey is a Ghanaian judge and academic.

Kotey became a lecturer at the University of Ghana in 1981.

While a lecturer at the university, he worked as a Solicitor and Advocate at Azinyo Chambers from 1982 to 2000.

Prior to that, Kotey worked as a consultant at Kotey and Associates, a law firm from 2000 to 2007.

In 2021, Nii Ashie Kotey was sworn in by Rt.

Reverend Professor Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, the Chancellor of the Presbyterian University College (PUCG) who is also the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), as the Chairman of the 13-member Governing Council of the University College, a position he occupies till date.

Amongst his articles and publications, these are a few notable ones:

He was a visiting scholar to the Pritzker School of Law, Chicago from May to June 2001, a visiting professor of Human Rights and Democratization in Africa to the Center for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria from March to April 2001, a visiting scholar at the Queens University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom in March 2000 and at the faculty of law of the University of Leiden, Netherlands from August to September 1999, and a visiting professor at the College of Law, Stetson University, Florida USA in 1997.

2002 - ''Compulsory Acquisition of Land in Ghana: Does the 1992 Constitution Open New Vistas?

in Toulon, C et.

al. (eds.)The Dynamics of Resources Tenure in West Africa.

Oxford, James Curry/Heinemann.

He was dean of the University of Ghana Faculty of Law from 2003 to 2007 and from 2005 to 2007 he served as the acting director of the Ghana School of Law.

2003 - ''With Mark Owusu Yeboah, Peri-Urbanism, Land Relations and Women in Ghana.

Access to Justice Series No. 1, Accra, Ghana.''

2004 - ''With Ellen Bortei-Doku Aryeetey, "Household Patterns and Conjugal Rights" in Akua Kuenyehia, (ed.) Women and Law in West Africa: Gender Relations in the Family - a West African Perspective.

WaLWA, Accra.

pp 71-80.''

2005 - ''With Dominic Ayine et.

al., Lifting the Lid on Foreign Investment Contracts: the Real Deal for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Markets Briefing Paper No. 1, September, 2005, International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED), London.''

In 2007, consistent with his firmly held belief that academic research and publication must be rooted in practical hands-on experience, he applied for and was appointed Chief Executive of the Ghana Forestry Commission through a competitive process.

2007 - ''With Bortei-Doku Aryeetey, et.

al., Legal and Institutional Issues in Land Policy Reform, ISSER Technical Publication No. 74, ISSER, University of Ghana, Legon.''

He served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 3 October 2018 until his retirement on 28 July 2023.

Kotey was nominated together with three other judges (Justice Agnes Dordzie, Justice Samuel Marful-Sau and Justice Nene Amegatcher) by the president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo in 2018.

He together with the three judges were recommended to the president by the three nominating bodies, the Chief Justice of Ghana, Attorney General of Ghana and the Ghana Bar Association.

A letter was sent to the president by the then Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo on behalf of the Judicial Council to recommend the judges to the president.

The president in March 2018 consulted the Council of State requesting their counsel as is required by law and approved the nominations based on the advice of the council.

The names of the Judges were sent to parliament and he appeared before the Appointment's Committee of Parliament on Thursday, 23 August 2018.

He together with the three other nominated judges were approved by parliament on 25 September 2018 and sworn into office in October 2018.

Since his elevation to the bench, Kotey has been involved in a number of important decisions.

Significant among these are the landmark cases of Theophilus Donkor v. The Attorney-General (The Presidential Transitions case), Mayor Agbleze v. Attorney-General & Electoral Commission (The Creation of New Regions case) and National Democratic Congress v. Attorney-General & Electoral Commission; Mark Takyi-Banson v. Electoral Commission & Attorney-General (On the Right to Vote, Registration of Voters and Identification of Persons Applying to Register as Voters) in all of which he delivered the judgment of the court.

Other notable cases he has been involved in include; The Republic v. High Court, Accra; Ex parte Attorney-General (Exton Cubic, Interested Party) (The Bauxite Concession case), The Republic v. High Court, Accra; Ex parte Gregory Afoko (The Constitutionality of Nolle Prosequi case), Richard Korsah v. The Executive Director Economic and Organised Crime Office and Attorney-General (The Forfeiture and Seizure of Assets case) and Justice Abdulai v. The Attorney-General (The Determination of the Quorum of Parliament case).

In the area of Private Law, Kotey has delivered a number of significant decisions including Ecobank Ghana Limited v. Aluminium Industries Limited (On the Distinction Between the Tort of Negligence and Negligent Breach of Contract and the Consequences Flowing therefrom), Opanin Agyarkwa & Ors v. Folagin & Ors (On the Conditions on which it would be Unlawful for a Court to Set Aside its Judgment), Tieso Ghana Limited v. Euroget De-Investa SA (On the Primacy and Interpretation of Arbitration Clauses in Contracts) and Nii Stephen Maley Nai v. East Dadekotopon Development Trust (On Urbanisation and Land Use Change in Accra and Its Impacts on the Operation of the Doctrine of Estoppel).

Justice Kotey was also a member of the seven-member panel that heard the Presidential Election Petition following the 2020 Presidential Election.

Kotey also serves on a number of committees.

He is the Chair of the Board of the Judicial Training Institute, the Internship and Attachment Committee and the Quinquennial Leave Committee.

He is also the Chair of the Independent Examinations Committee of the General Legal Council.

Prior to his elevation to the bench, Kotey had spent over thirty-five years in teaching, research, consulting, legal practice and senior management.

As an academic, Kotey's expertise were Natural Resources and Environmental Law, Human Rights Law and Constitutional Law.