Bashiru Kwaw-Swanzy

Born Benard Edward Kwaw-Swanzy he was also known as Bartholomew Ebassuah Kwaw-Swanzy and later known as Alhaji Bashiru Kwaw-Swanzy. He was an Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the First Republic.

He was born on 25 October 1921 at Beyin an Nzema area in the Western Region, Ghana. He attended Roman Catholic schools in Axim, Eikwe and Half Assini from 1927 to 1933. He entered St. Theresa's Seminary in Amisano from 1933 to 1938 in hopes of becoming a Catholic priest. In 1939 he entered Prince of Wales College later known as Achimota School where he obtained his Cambridge Certificate in 1940 he continued at St. Augustine's College, Cape Coast in 1941 to train as a teacher and he received his Gold Coast teachers' certificate in 1942. He returned to Achimota School in 1942 to pursue his University of London Intermediate Bachelor of arts degree at Achimota College and completed in 1944. He had his university education at the Victoria University of Manchester, school of History from 1947 to 1950 and the University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam house- School of Research Studies in 1952 where he obtained his post graduate degree in 1954 he was called to the English bar at the Lincoln's Inn.

He set up practice in the Gold Coast in 1955. He became a public officer when he was appointed chairman of the Timber Marketng Board in April 1960. He was appointed deputy attorney general working with Geoffrey Bing who was the then Attorney General of Ghana. Before becoming Attorney General of Ghana in 1962, Alhaji Kwaw Swanzy accomplished with commendable success two important international legal assignments on behalf of the Ghana government in Zanzibar and the Gambia. During his time in Zanzibar in 1961, Alhaji Swanzy successfully obtained the acquittal of about 80 members of the Afro- Shirazi Party who had been indicted for murder in the riots which erupted in that country in 1960. In Gambia, Alhaji Kwaw-Swanzy secured the acquittal of the former Gambian President, Sir Dauda Jawara and several members of his Progressive Peoples' Party for electoral malpractices and fraud in 1962. In recognition of his distinguished professional services in Zanzibar, the Zanzibar government appointed him Attorney General and chief legal advisor to the Zanzibar government in 1983. In 1972 he represented Ghana in the Islamic conference at Al Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. He was elected joint-chairman of the Ghana Muslim Representative Council on 6 July 1974.

He converted to the Islamic faith through the agency of Sheik Ibrahim Amartey while in prison at Ussher Fort on 5 October 1967 after the change of government in February 1966. He adopted the name Bashiru which means: "bearer of good tidings" in Arabic in place of Bartholomew. He had two wives and eight children.

He died on Monday, 15 September 1997 at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital after a short illness.