Once every year, all the lawyers in Ghana assemble in a particular Regional capital to hold what we call ?Annual Conference?. It is usually an occasion for lawyers to generally withdraw from the tedious legal routine and just relax for about three or four days.
As a rule, I try never to miss a Bar Conference for the main reason that it is the only opportunity I get to tear away from my office. After all, reader, when you die, the world will go on, so why slave yourself to work?
The story is told of a lawyer in Koforidua who collapsed on his feet in the High Court, dying, as his client remarked: ?Oh, so which lawyer will do my case for me??
He was not interested in the painful loss of his lawyer ? rather his concern was on his personal court case.
So, reader, no matter the work you are doing ? driver, editor, engineer ? whatever ? make time for your LEAVE ? withdraw to somewhere different from your work environment, and recharge your battery of life ? let everybody go to Hades.After all, President Mills died and Ghana is still going on.
My budget for the Conference was killing ? and everybody I talked to said next week, next week? but I had to go all the same. I told my father in law?s daughter about the impending Conference starting Sunday, and she fumed: ?I hear you lawyers go to the Conference carrying girlfriends along?.?
?Who told you that, Gloria??
?A lawyer friend of mine?.?
?Well, maybe he does that but not me?
?My friend is a female lawyer ? she told me?.?
Reader, Sunday 14th September came. I planned to leave Accra for Cape Coast, venue of the Conference, after church. In spite of all my weaknesses I try not to miss Sunday Church Service ? reader, what excuse can you conceivably have for not going to church on Sunday?
So, I went to church. Hymns, Prayers,then time for Sermon. The pastor mounted the pulpit and the first thing he said was WHAM!!!!!
?There is a member of this church, CAPTAIN ? he will go to Takoradi for a Conference, he will collapse, and recovery will be difficult at 10:45am on Wednesday. Let us all pray for him ? Captain, stand up!…..?
Eh!! Reader, what is this?
There is a famous film called ?The Appointment? ? if you have not watched it, download it from the internet and watch it ? if your life does not change after that, then you are a different human species.
In that film, a certain journalist was very critical of the church and pastors in general, and one day alone in the office a voice told her that you will die at 6:15pm on October the 15th??????.
She did not believe it, but as the day got nearer, she became scared, and researched about death, eternity and things like that??..No matter what she did, at exactly that moment, a fire Service truck passed over her on the street!!!!
The film ends with the question: WHEN IS YOUR APPOINTMENT??
After church service, my father in law?s daughter asked me, so will you still go for the Conference? Then she asked: so are you afraid?
Reader, I say it to the Glory of God that I was not afraid one bit ? you know why? Because whether I am afraid or not will NOT change what God has planned for my life. He created me ? He took me to Achimota, Legon and Sandhurt ? He has made me a lawyer, MP, Deputy Minister ? what else do I want? Let His Will be done!!
But, at my rate, is it not this same God who said in Psalm 91 that ?Because he has set his love upon me, I will set him on high. I will honour him???with LONG LIFE will I satisfy him and show him my salvation?
No. I claim that promise!!
In a seeming defiant mood, I drove my X5 to Cape Coast and checked into SANAA LODGE. When I was told that they had booked Sanaa Lodge for me I was so excited, because back in the 1970s, it was the most exotic luxurious hotel in Cape Coast.
I entered, in 2014 ? and what is this? No generator and so many lights off ? sleeping in darkness!! The furniture looks like World War Two antiques ? who is the manager?
Monday, 15th September ? day one of the Conference. I drove to the University of Cape Coast ? the venue for the confab. They have built an extremely imposing New Examination Centre (NEC), and reader, it can seat 2,000 people ? wow!!!
During the opening ceremony, I was seated quietly somewhere trying to do meditation for three days ? when I heard my name being introduced as one of the interesting personalities around- The way they all received my name with applause and smiles, I suddenly became scared: is this my last public appearance? You stand there collecting cheers, 10:45am is coming, Wednesday ? 48 hours away!!
I remember King Hezekiah in the Bible ? the prophet Isaiah told him he was going to die ? he prayed and God increased his life span for 15 years!!! Okay. Let me also pray. Psalm 91. With long life, I will satisfy him??????..?
The Opening Ceremony was too long ? we finished around 2pm, then, in the afternoon Anna Bossman who was a Contemporary of mine at Achimota School ? she came to give a beautiful lecture on Regulatory bodies and how to insulate state institutions from interference.
In the evening we were hosted to a very lively cocktail at the Residency of the Regional Minister and I drove on to Saana Lodge to sleep. Psalm 91???With Long Life????.?
Tuesday,day two of the Conference.
There was an extremely very useful mind opening presentation by lawyer David OfosuDorte on how to manage private law firms and financial accounting in law firms.
In the afternoon, Justice MarfulSau gave a brilliant lecture on the development of the law on distribution of marital property: what happens when a working man acquires property during marriage ? does the wife automatically have a RIGHT to that property?
After reviewing all the topical cases, Justice MarfulSau concluded firmly that when a man acquires property during marriage, the wife, as a RIGHT, has a joint share in same ? thenbefore sitting down, he said this morning, his attention has been drawn to the latest Supreme Court case FynnversFynn, where their lordships have said that the principle is NOT absolute, and that each case must be seen on its own merits!!!
Reader, trust lawyers ? saying two different things at the same time!!!!!
In the evening we went to Emintsimadze Palace for an evening reception by the Omanhene, Osabarima Kofi Atta III ? and there was this coral group giving us a medley of songs. When they saw me they launched into my personal anthem ?MATWEN AWURADE? ? I could not help but jump into the floor, dancing.
As I was dancing I remembered that tomorrow is Wednesday 10:45am!!! Oh God?..let your will be done.
All night no power at Sanaa Lodge.
I drove to the Conference base ? today is for tours ? three sites ? Kakum Forest Reserve; Takoradi Naval Base and Cape Coast Castle. I confess I was scared of ?Takoradi? so I chose nearer home, Cape Coast Castle visit ? I have visited the Castle at least TEN times but still I prefer that place to Kakum or Takoradi.
Time check 0900 hours ? I hour 45 minutes more. Well, according to Shakespeare, ?come what may, time and the hour run through the rough of day?????..?
In two buses we drove to the Cape Coast Castle and a certain Morgan Mensah, UCC graduate in Tourism took us on a guided tour of the castle.
Cape Coast Castle was built in 1665 by the Portuguese who lost it by conquest to the Swedish who were also over-powered by the Danes and lost same to the Dutch who were swept away by the British who ruled it for over 200 years until independence in 1957.
The Castle was built in stages and we were taken through the various male and female dungeons for the slaves.
As the tour progressed, I looked at my wrist watch ? it was 10:10am ? Oh, good Lord ? 40 minutes more?
The guide showed us the graves of Philip Quarcoo, then Governor George Maclean, the door of No Return, the first Courtroom in Gold Coast Colony, the first Anglican Church,the condemned cell where difficult as slaves were condemned to die off.
Then the guide took us to the ?Palaver Room? slaves were sold and where usually there was great banter in bartering.
While ending the tour, I made a remark, in the Palaver Room, that the way the Europeans carried away thousands of Africans as slaves, they should pay us ?Reparations? ? then some lawyer descended on me as if he had a secret axe to grind with me:
?Captain,don?t talk like that. Was it not your own people who were selling each other to the White men for mundane things like mirror, whisky and gunpowder?
You don?t deserve any reparations!!! Then someone came to my defence, and a lawyer in smock exploded in again??..the guide laughed as he exclaimed: ?this is PALAVER ROOM- carry on!!!?
I looked at my wrist watch ? it was exactly 11: O?clock!!! My appointment is passed!!! To God be the Glory!!!
I will praise my maker while I have breath. Begone, unbelief, my Saviour is near. With Christ in the Vessel I smile at the storm.
Because he has set his love upon me, I will deliver him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
Reader, I was a New Man. How I savoured the fresh air. I became very quiet, and as we drove past to Elmina Castle?.i reflected quietly on my life so far???.
Reader, life is beautiful.
To God be the Glory.
Written by
NkrabeahEffahDartey
