Jump to navigation

Vol 42 No 3

Published 9th February 2001

Austin Amissah

PREVIEW

We are saddened to announce the death of Justice Austin Amissah, a reader, critic and friend of Africa Confidential.

An eminent jurist, academic and author, Justice Amissah's career spanned Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Europe. Born in Ghana in 1930, Justice Amissah became that country's Attorney General and served on Commissions and Enquiries across the Commonwealth. As President of Botswana's Court of Appeal, he made a landmark ruling in favour of Unity Dow's right to confer nationality on her children. He found that the Botswana constitution's guarantee of equal treatment of men and women overrode an immigration regulation stipulating that nationality rights could be conferred only by a man.

A former colleague of Amissah's on the Botswana appeal bench, better known as Nelson Mandela's lawyer, George Bizos, described Amissah as "…a zealous guardian of judicial independence; a patient, helpful and understanding colleague; he avoided prejudgment of any cause and strove to reach a just decision in every case after giving counsel on both sides and his brethren on the bench every opportunity to persuade him what was the right thing to do".

Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024
https://www.africa-confidential.com:1070

Prepared for Free Article on 20/09/2024 at 09:40. Authorized users may download, save, and print articles for their own use, but may not further disseminate these articles in their electronic form without express written permission from Africa Confidential / Asempa Limited. Contact subscriptions@africa-confidential.com.

Related Articles

The Crown Prince’s power play

From Benghazi to Assab and Khartoum, the UAE’s strongman has emerged as a key player in regional conflicts

The world has woken up to the dynamic and ruthless Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahaya...

Seoul's high-tech axis

IT cooperation centres for Cameroon and an internet backbone for Rwanda

Seoul is using its expertise in information and communications technologies (ICT) to break into Africa’s growing high-tech market. Korea Telecom has a US$38 million contract with t...

Brave new century

Dealing with the conflicts from the Atlantic to the Red Sea will dominate this year's policy agenda

The tempo of political and economic change in Africa will speed up in 2000. In six elections, credible opposition parties will vie for power. Heavy pressure is building up on the c...

Hack exposes state spies

A leak of over one million emails has exposed African governments’ purchase of software to spy on and disrupt dissidents

For years, the governments of Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda have been cracking down on dissent, intimidating opposition leaders, arresting journalists and even firing ...

Aggressive passivity

The government is tied in knots, but that has not stopped the armed forces from taking a more active role in international peacekeeping missions

Japan’s cycle of political instability and the long recovery from the tsunami and Fukushima nuclear crisis signal another year of inward focus for the governing elite. Prime Minist...


Stories by country

Footer Map