V.C.R.A.C Crabbe Makes Final Journey Home

Former Supreme Court Justice, Professor Vincent Cyril Richard Arthur Charles Crabbe, popularly known as V.C.R.A.C Crabbe, has been laid to rest today, Thursday, October 4, 2018.

A state funeral service was held in his honour at the Accra International Conference Centre.

In attendance at his funeral was the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, First Lady Rebbecca Akufo-Addo, and the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Aaron Ocquaye.

Other dignitaries include former President Jerry John Rawlings and former President John Dramani Mahama, parliamentarians, government officials among others.

VCRAC Crabbe died at the age of 94 on Friday, September 7, after a short illness.

Several tributes poured in for the one-time Supreme Court judge.

Justice VCRAC Crabbe is among other things remembered for his immense contribution to the drafting of the constitution of both Ghana, Kenya and the Gambia.

About VCRAC Crabbe
He was born on 29 October 1923 at Ussher town in Accra, Gold Coast, and was educated at the Government Junior and Senior Boys Schools in Accra.

VCRAC Crabbe is an old boy of Accra Academy where he sat for the Cambridge Junior and Senior School Certificates

He further went to London to study Economics at the City of London College Moorgate, London 1950-1952.

In August 1952, he was admitted to the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple to read law.

He completed the normal three-year course in two years and was called to the Bar on the 8th February, 1955 having being granted a dispensation.

The same year he was enrolled as a member of the Gold Coast Bar, in order to maintain his Seniority at the Bar.

He progressed from Assistant Crown Counsel to Parliamentary Counsel, the first African to be appointed as such, and ended up as a Senior Instructor at the International Law Development Centre in Rome, Italy.

In between, he held the post of First Parliamentary Counsel and Constitutional Adviser to the Uganda Government, Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat Scheme for Legislative draftsmen for the West African Region, Southern Africa Region, the Caribbean Region, and a Professor of Legislative drafting at the Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, University of West Indies.

He worked with the Constitutional Review Commission of Kenya, and was Leader of the group of Draftspersons who drafted the Kenya Constitution.

He served as Ghana's first chairperson of the Electoral Commission.

He did work with the Zambian Constitutional Commission for the drafting of the Zambian Constitution, as well with the Fiajoe Review Commission for the review of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

He also worked with Justice P.N. Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India, and Justice Eso of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to advise on the setting up of the Constitutional Court in South Africa.

In March 2017, he was elected a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he delivered an inaugural lecture on the theme; The Philosophy of Man.