Joseph Kingsley-Nyinah

Joseph Kwame Kingsley-Nyinah was a Ghanaian judge who served as a justice of the Court of Appeal and also as the Electoral Commissioner for Ghana.

Early life and education Kingsley-Nyinah was born on 21 August 1922 at Akokuaso which is near Akim Oda in the Eastern Region of Ghana (then Gold Coast). He was the first child of Joseph Kingsley-Nyinah and Felicia Marfo. His father was a police officer and was transferred to various stations. This led to his education being in different places. He started his basic education at Akuse before continuing at the Government Boys' School at Cape Coast. He completed his basic education at the Achimota Primary School and went on to the Achimota College which he completed in 1942.

He worked as a teacher and then a law clerk before he proceeded to the United Kingdom in 1947 to study law at the Middle Temple, London. He was called to the Bar in June 1953. Kingsley-Nyinah is known to have been critical of interference with the judiciary by Kwame Nkrumah, first prime minister and president of Ghana.

Elections and democracy He was appointed the Electoral Commissioner in 1978 by the Supreme Military Council (SMC) led by Lt. General Fred Akuffo. This followed the departure of Isaac Kobina Abban, the previous commissioner. He had been appointed by the previous leader of the SMC, then General I. K. Acheampong but vacated the position due to being opposed to the attempts to rig the UNIGOV referendum by the military SMC government. He stayed on as Electoral Commissioner following the overthrow of the SMC by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council under Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings in June 1979 and went on to oversee the 1979 Ghanaian general election. His tenure ended when the government of Hilla Limann was overthrown by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) military government led by Jerry Rawlings as the constitution of Ghana was suspended. He also contributed to the founding of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers prior to the 2000 general election which saw the first change of government in Ghana by the ballot box.

Awards In 2008, Kingsley-Nyinah was awarded the Order of the Volta in recognition of his contribution towards the development of the Judicial Service and the entrenchment of democracy in Ghana by President Kufuor. Alan John Kyerematen, Ministry of Trade and Industry of Ghana at the time of his death in 2019 is married to his daughter Patricia.