Georgina Theodora Wood is the first woman to hold the position of Chief Justice in Ghana.
Born on June 8, 1947, the Ghanaian judge and also a former police prosecution officer was nominated as Chief Justice of Ghana in May 2007.
On June 1, 2007, the Parliament of Ghana approved her nomination as the new Chief Justice of Ghana by consensus.
Chief Justice Wood assumed office on June 15, 2007.
While in office, she swore in four presidents.
The first is President John Evans Atta-Mills in January 2009 after the 2008 elections.
She then swore in Vice-President John Dramani Mahama upon the death of Atta-Mills on July 24, 2012.
After the 2012 elections, she again swore in the President-Elect, John Dramani Mahama January 7, 2013.
On January 7, 2017, she swore in Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as president after he won the 2016 elections.
She however retired as Chief Justice in June 2017 after five decades of service to the state and was succeeded by Justice Sophia Akuffo.
Education
Georgina Theodora Wood had her basic education at Bishop's Girls and Methodist Schools, Dodowa. She then attended Mmofraturo Girls School, Kumasi between 1958 and 1960. Wood's secondary education was at Wesley Girls' High School, Cape Coast, which she completed in 1966.
She proceeded to the University of Ghana, Legon, where she was awarded the LL.B. in 1970. Wood then attended the Ghana School of Law after which she was called to the bar. She also did a Post-Graduate Officers Training Course at the Ghana Police College.
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Wood worked with the Ghana Police Service as a deputy superintendent and public prosecutor for three years. She later joined the Judicial Service as a District Magistrate in 1974.
She rose through the Circuit and High Courts to become the presiding judge of the Appeal Court in 1991. She was appointed to the Supreme Court by President John Kufuor on November 12, 2002, an appointment she had earlier declined.
The Georgina Wood committee was set up on July 4, 2006 to investigate the disappearance from a shipping vessel MV Benjamin of 77 packets of cocaine on April 26, 2006.
It was also to investigate an alleged $200,000 bribe paid to senior police officers by a lady linked to a Venezuelan drug baron, and also the 588 kg of cocaine seized at Mempeasem, East Legon from the Venezuelans.
