Yonny Kulendi

Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi (born 29 November 1963) is a Ghanaian judge. He is an active Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana. He was nominated and appointed a Supreme Court judge in 2020.

Early life and education Kulendi was born on 29 November 1963. He hails from Issa, a village in the Upper West Region of Ghana. His father was a World War II veteran and his mother brewed and sold Pito in Wa Zongo. He later proceeded to New Juaben Senior High School from 1985 to 1987, where he had his sixth form. He continued at the Ghana School of Law, becoming a barrister-at-law in 1994.

Supreme Court appointment On 17 March 2020, the president, Nana Akufo-Addo informed the Speaker of Parliament, Mike Oquaye that consultations had been completed for the nomination of Kulendi and three other persons to be made justices of the Supreme Court of Ghana. The speaker of parliament announced his nomination together with the three others to parliament on 19 March 2020 for vetting and approval. Following his vetting by parliament, Kulendi was approved by parliament on Wednesday, 20 May 2020, and sworn into office on Tuesday 26 May 2020. Kulendi became the first Ghanaian from the Upper West Region to be appointed to serve on Ghana's highest court of jurisdiction.

His appointment also now makes him a part of a small group of persons who were called to the Supreme Court bench directly from the bar. They include; Edward Akufo-Addo who went on to become a Chief Justice of Ghana and the second president of Ghana, Justice Robert Samuel Blay who became the first president of the Ghana Bar Association and Justice Nene Amegatcher who was also once president of the Ghana Bar Association.

Personal life Kulendi is married, and a father of four children.