Ghana’s judiciary and legal community are mourning the passing of Her Ladyship Justice Rita Agyeman-Budu, a distinguished High Court judge whose life of service, dignity and compassion left an enduring mark on the bench and beyond. She died in July 2025 after a career defined by fairness, moral courage and a deep commitment to justice.
Justice Agyeman-Budu was born on 19 September 1960 in Kumasi to Emmanuel Okutu Ayiku of Big Ada and Elizabeth Serebour of Adansi-Fomena. The fourth daughter of her parents, she began life as Rita Amaku Ayiku and grew up in a home that valued discipline, education and faith. She attended Bantama Methodist Primary School and later State Girls Experimental Middle School before earning admission to Yaa Asantewaa Girls Secondary School. She completed her secondary education at Mfantsiman Girls Secondary School in 1978, where she was formally received into the Methodist Church—a faith that would anchor her for the rest of her life.
After school, she worked briefly at Social Security Bank in Suame. In 1984 she married Kwame Agyeman-Budu, her lifelong partner, and together they welcomed their first son, Kwaku, that same year. Their second son, Nana Sarpong, followed in 1987. She paused her formal education to raise her young family, but her desire to learn never dimmed.
In the late 1980s, she enrolled at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, graduating in 1991 with a Diploma in Journalism and winning the Agostinho Neto Prize for Best Student in English. Her final project explored the representation of women in advertising, reflecting her emerging interest in fairness, gender issues and cultural analysis. She worked briefly as a journalist before deciding to pursue higher education.
With her husband, she co-founded RAKAB Ventures, a well-known supermarket business in the Teshie-Nungua area that became a certified UNILEVER distributor. During this period she also passed the Final University Examination and gained admission to the University of Ghana, where she studied English, Sociology and Russian, graduating in 1997. Her commitment to education continued when she enrolled in the Ghana School of Law in 1998. Even after giving birth to her third child, Yaw Twumasi, in 2002, she balanced motherhood, work and studies with impressive resolve. She was called to the Bar in 2004.
Justice Agyeman-Budu’s judicial journey began in 1999 when she joined the Judicial Service and worked across several departments, including Personnel and the Petitions and Complaints Unit. She later became Court Manager of the newly established Commercial Court. In 2008 she was appointed a District Magistrate, first serving at the Ministries District Court and later at the Tema White House District Court, where she built a reputation for calm professionalism.
Promoted to the Circuit Court in 2011, she became one of the pioneering judges of Ghana’s Gender-Based Violence Courts, first in Kumasi and then in Accra. Her work on gender-based violence earned her national recognition for her steady, principled approach to cases involving some of society’s most vulnerable people.
Her commitment to continuous learning took her to St. John’s University in New York, where she completed an LL.M in Transnational Legal Practice in 2016 on a full scholarship from then Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood. She excelled academically, making the Dean’s List, and upon her return passed the High Court promotion process. She was appointed a High Court judge in July 2016 and served at the Tema High Court C, later sitting in Gbetsile and at Tema High Court A. She remained on the bench with grace and diligence until her passing.
Beyond the courtroom, Justice Agyeman-Budu made a significant contribution to public education on justice and gender issues. In 2014, she wrote A Call for Justice, a drama commissioned by the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) on the barriers women face in seeking redress for violence and discrimination. Adapted into a short film featuring some of Ghana’s best-known actors, it was broadcast nationwide and remains a reference point for gender-justice advocacy.
She devoted more than a decade of service to the IAWJ Ghana Chapter, rising from assistant secretary to secretary, vice president, and finally president. Under her leadership, Ghana successfully hosted the 2024 IAWJ Africa Regional Conference in Accra. Her final international engagement was representing the Chief Justice at the 2025 regional conference in Cape Town.
Justice Agyeman-Budu lived her faith quietly but firmly. Baptised a Methodist as a child, she later worshipped at the International Central Gospel Church with her husband before returning to her Methodist roots at the United Church, Teshie-Nungua Estate. She served as an elder, chaired the church’s Constitution Review Committee, patronised the choir and remained an active member of the Monday Born Group and the Friday Prayer Group. She was also a life member of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International and was known for her commitment to Christian fellowship throughout her years at the Ghana School of Law and beyond.
Her Ladyship will be remembered for her gentle spirit, her warmth and her disarming humility. She spoke softly but never wavered in principle. Colleagues recall a judge who was unfailingly fair, deeply respectful, and meticulous in her work. Friends and family remember a woman who lifted others, who led without fanfare and who believed in the value of every human being.
Justice Rita Agyeman-Budu devoted her life to justice, to the empowerment of women and girls, to her faith and to her family. Her influence endures in the many lives she touched—in the courtroom, in the church, in the IAWJ and at home.
She is deeply mourned and fondly remembered.
May she rest in perfect peace.
