Gbiel Simon Suurbaareh

Gbiel Simon Suurbaareh is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, one of the seven Appeal Court judges President Mahama elevated in 2025. He was born near Nadowli in the Upper West Region on 11 January 1958.

He went to St Francis Minor Seminary and Navrongo Secondary School, read law at the University of Ghana and was called to the bar in 1984. He spent his early career in the PNDC's public tribunals in Tamale, Bolgatanga and Wa, and became regional chairman of the Public Tribunal in Sunyani in 1990. After the return to constitutional rule he was a community tribunal chairman in Obuasi, then a circuit judge from 2000 and a High Court judge from 2010, supervising the High Courts of the Eastern Region.

He joined the Court of Appeal in 2015 and represented its justices on the Judicial Council. At his Supreme Court vetting in June 2025 he argued against capping the number of justices, called public perceptions of judicial corruption exaggerated, and proposed bringing back regional tribunals for corruption and narcotics cases. Parliament approved him on 18 June 2025 over the objections of the Minority.