Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph

Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph
Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana (Third Republic)
In office September 24, 1979 – December 31, 1981
Preceded by	Nii Amaa Ollennu Second Republic
Succeeded by	Daniel Francis Annan Fourth Republic
Personal details
Born	6 September 1914 Accra, Gold Coast[1]
Died	25 July 1986 (aged 71) Accra, Ghana[2]
Relations	Nana Akufo-Addo (Son-in-law) Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo (Daughter)
Occupation	Judge

Justice Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph (6 September 1914 – 25 July 1986) was a judge and also the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana during the Third Republic.

Early life and education

He was born on 6 September 1914. He attended the Adisadel College. He then joined John Holt Trading company and rose to the position of Regional manager and represented the company in Kumasi. Later on in life, he resigned and travelled to London to further his education. He successfully completed his legal education at the prestigious Inner Temple In 1952, after which he returned to Ghana.

Career

He was in 1959 appointed as Commissioner of Income Tax during the First Republic of Ghana, by President Kwame Nkrumah, and was the first African to hold that position in the whole of Africa. He went into exile in Togo in 1962, after criticising President Nkrumah in a church sermon, and being alerted of his imminent arrest, leading to his leaving the church and heading directly to the Togo border. While in Togo as a guest of the Togolese President, Olympio, a coup occurred there and he escaped to Nigeria from where he headed to England, and into exile for the next few years till President Nkrumah was overthrown in February 1966. He was appointed a Superior Court judge by the new government and served in Bolgatanga, Cape Coast, Tamale and finally Accra, where he was till he retired from the Bench in 1979. ^[3] With the handover of power by the military in September 1979, the 4th Republic was born, and he was unanimously selected to be Speaker of Parliament. He served as Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana from 24 September 1979 until 31 December 1981, during the presidency of Dr.Hilla Limann. Dr Limann's government was overthrown by Flight Lieutenant J.J. Rawlings.

Family

Justice Griffiths - Randolph and his wife Frances Philippina (née Mann) had 7 children. Their daughter Rebecca, is married to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.^[4]

Later life

He died on 25 July 1986 aged 71.

Notes

1. Randolph+born&dq=Jacob+Hackenburg+Griffiths-Randolph+born&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-JALT5OrOoLYiALwtcyZBA&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA
3. "GHANA: 1960-January 1963 - Internal Affairs and Foreign Affairs" (pdf). A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files. LexisNexis. pp. 7 & 11. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
4. "The NPP race is not for the swift?". Politics of Friday, 31 March 2006. Ghana Home Page. Retrieved 2007-04-18.

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved April 18, 2007.