After 17 Years In Office - Short Out, Anna In

Justice Emile Short - Out

Justice Emile Short has quit as Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative Justice, bringing his 17-year tenure to a voluntary end.

The move was endorsed by President John Evans Atta Mills in a press statement which also announced the appointment of Ms Anna Bossman, Short’s deputy, as the Acting Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

Justice Short told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the decision to quit was not as sudden as it might appear but was taken a year ago and communicated to the President last month in line with his terms of engagement.

He said his retirement was, therefore, planned and not as a result of any pressure from any quarters.

CHRAJ had dealt with a number of human rights cases and allegations of corruption involving some high-profile ones such as that involving former Youth and Sports Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka.

Muntaka was cleared of allegations of abuse of office and conflict of interest barely 24 hours before the announcement of Justice Short’s retirement.

Mr Short had been the Chairman of CHRAJ from 1993, when the Commission was established, until his retirement except for the period 2004 to 2009, when he was granted leave of absence to take up an appointment as a Judge with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.

He was head of his law firm from 1974 to 1993 and had served as the President of the African Ombudsman Centre.

He also served as a Consultant to the UNDP, the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, the Danish Institute of Human Rights, the Carter Centre and Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Sweden.