Did you know that a Marshallan was named as one of the incorruptible judges in the judicial bribery scandal that has rocked Ghana in recent times?
Sis Justice Jennifer Amanda Dodoo of Court 100, Santasi in Kumasi was named as one of the High Court Judges who refused to take bribes under any circumstances: even threatening to jail the undercover reporters if they came near her.
That is the spirit exhibited by Sis Dodoo to the extent that when the story appeared in the Daily Graphic of Monday, September 14, 2015 , it took relatives, friends, and colleagues to alert her that she had been mentioned as having surviving the temptation.
“I have been on the phone since 6 am responding to congratulatory messages, whatsapp and text messages from the USA, Australia etc . I am overwhelmed by the show of love, support and encouragement,” she said in an interview.
“I go to work to do what I am being paid to do. I have been brought up to do my work. I never expected that it would come up this way. I have been brought up by my parents to do the things I do.
You do not expect me to bend the rules to favour anyone,” she said.
“I am happy doing my job i.e. administering justice without fear or favour, ill will or affection. God being my helper.,” she added.
Sis Justice Dodoo, who was initiated in September 2014, is currently preparing for her Lower Degree examinations.
Surprise
She said she did not know about the publication until her senior brother called to inform her at about 6:30am on Monday September 14 2015.
“From then on, it has been calls from my former colleagues at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), floods of messages from the USA, Australia and all over,” she said.
Sis Justice Dodoo said she was brought up as a Catholic from day one.
Education
Sis. Jennifer Dodoo attended University Primary School in Kumasi, St Louis Secondary School in Kumasi, the University of Ghana, Legon and the Ghana School of Law.
She pursued a Master’s Degree in Human Rights at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in the United Kingdom.
“My first job was with CHRAJ and then I was appointed to the bench in 2002.
Family
Sis Justice Dodoo is one of four children born to Mrs. Murie Baffoe-Bonnie and Mr. George Maxwell Baffoe- Bonnie (of blessed memory). t
“I supposed that shaped my life as I had to learn to be firm from the beginning. I was the second child and the only female. They were stronger than me because they were men. I had to learn to be firm from an early age,” she said amidst laughter.
Bribery
Couldn’t anything have changed your position to succumb?
“What other thing could they have come with?” she asked.
Spiritual attacks
She said apart from some of those physical attacks in the form of bribery, litigants could also attempt to attack judges spiritually.
She recalled an incident in which one of her panel members complained that an arrow had been thrown at her.
“I immediately called on Mary Mother of Good Counsel to intercede for me,” she said.
In another example, she said, she once woke up in the absence of her husband to find something standing at the foot of her bed.
“The thing threw something at me and I deflected some of the things thrown at me and I shouted Jesus come to my defence,” she said.
Sis Justice Dodoo recalled a number of spiritual attacks but said her prayers and devotion to Mother Mary had always kept her safe, stressing that “those attacks have made me more prayerful.
Noble Order
She said she had just started in the Noble Order and looks forward to writing her Lower Degree examinations in November this year.
She said although her husband, an Anglican, did not initially want her to join the Noble Order, “I convinced him to allow me to join.
“I don’t regret joining the Noble Order. I should have joined much earlier,” she said.
Write up by W/Bro Albert K. Salia