Janapare Bartels-Kodwo
Janapare Adzua Bartels-Kodwo is a Ghanaian jurist who is an active Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana.
Early life and education
Bartels-Kodwo was born on 20 November 1961 in the Volta Region of Ghana. She began her secondary education at Achimota School in 1973, where she obtained her GCE O-Level certificate in 1978. She then attended St. Monica's Senior High School, earning her GCE A-Level certificate in 1980. That same year, she enrolled at the University of Cape Coast, but graduated in 1985, a year later than anticipated, due to university closures during that period. While teaching at Achimota School, she pursued legal studies, qualifying as a lawyer.Career
Following her tertiary education, Bartels-Kodwo did her National Service as a teaching assistant at the same university for two years. After her National Service, she was posted to Achimota School by the Ghana Education Service where she taught for eight years. While teaching at the school, she studied to qualify as a lawyer. After obtaining her qualification, she worked at the legal department of the Ghana Internal Revenue Service briefly prior to joining the Judicial Service of Ghana as a Magistrate in 1997. In 2004, she was appointed a Circuit Court judge, and in 2010, she was elevated to the High Court of Ghana as a Justice. In December 2019, she became a Justice of the Court of Appeal, where she served until her appointment to the Supreme Court of Ghana in 2025.Supreme Court Appointment
Nomination
Bartels-Kodwo was nominated by President John Dramani Mahama for appointment to the Supreme Court of Ghana as one of seven Court of Appeal Justices, pursuant to Article 144 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which authorized the President to nominate individuals for the Supreme Court, subject to the advice of the Judicial Council and parliamentary approval. The nomination was conveyed in a letter dated 27 May, 2025, read by Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin upon Parliament's resumption, requesting expedited approval to enable the justices to assume office promptly. The nominees, including Bartels-Kodwo, were referred to the Appointments Committee for vetting.Vetting
On 17 June, 2025, Bartels-Kodwo appeared before Parliament's Appointments Committee for her Supreme Court vetting, where she addressed issues related to judicial efficiency, modernization, and professional conduct. She advocated for judges to stay updated with modern technological and societal trends, citing her experience at the Circuit Court with a case involving “revenge porn” to highlight the need for judicial adaptation to digital offenses. She emphasized continuous professional development through the Judicial Training Institute, noting the high cost of legal materials and proposing centralized access to well-stocked libraries and digital legal databases to enhance judicial efficiency. Bartels-Kodwo called for comprehensive judicial reforms, including significant infrastructure investment to support nationwide implementation of digital tools like the e-justice system, stressing that reforms should extend beyond Accra to ensure equitable access to justice.On media freedoms, she acknowledged Ghana's strong advocacy for press freedom but expressed concerns about misreporting and sensationalism in court coverage, proposing mandatory training for judicial reporters through the Judicial Training Institute to improve accuracy while avoiding heavy-handed regulation. Bartels-Kodwo condemned discourteous behaviour by some female judges toward young lawyers, urging them not to abandon their careers due to such treatment. She also addressed the disparity between Ghana's legal age of sexual consent and marriage age, advocating for robust education for girls as a “natural contraceptive” to delay early family responsibilities, rather than relying solely on legislative changes. On constitutional matters, she stated that the 1992 Constitution clearly limited presidential terms to two. Additionally, Bartels-Kodwo proposed deploying freshly graduated law students to Legal Aid offices as part of their National Service to address staffing shortages and enhance access to justice for vulnerable groups.