Legal luminary Tsatsu Tsikata has described his life journey, marked by trial, imprisonment and eventual honour, as a testament to divine purpose, declaring that “God meant it for good.”

Speaking on PM Express with Evans Mensah on Joy News, he said the central message he intended to leave with audiences at his recent honourific lecture was “Amazing grace.”

“Amazing grace, because I mean, standing there being honoured for a lifetime. It’s not been an easy lifetime, even from my asthmatic infancy, through the whole political situation of my trial and imprisonment,” he said.

The veteran lawyer reflected on the emotional weight of receiving recognition in person, noting how close his story could have come to a different ending.

“I could have been dead, so even a posthumous award wouldn’t have been so exciting. It would have been a bit mournful. So it was exciting for me that I could be alive on that occasion, and amazing grace truly was my abiding emotion.”

Mr Tsikata, who has long been associated with a strong Christian faith, said the moment was deeply spiritual and intentional.

“Absolutely. And on that occasion, that’s exactly what I wanted to contribute and communicate.”

He explained that his faith has shaped his understanding of his abilities and achievements, insisting they are not self-made.

“Truly, if I’m being honoured, whatever talents I have are not endowed by myself. I didn’t put those talents in myself. And my ability to stand in court or to give a lecture to my students, as I’ve done over the decade, none of that has been endowed by myself.”

That conviction, he said, has deepened over time, especially through adversity.

“So I have had a profound sense of gratitude to my maker. And because of my particular experiences, that has been even deeper because, as I’ve often said, God meant it for good.”

Recounting his time in prison, he acknowledged the harsh contrast between his professional stature and his circumstances.

“Even when I was in prison, that time could have been a low point; I could have been depressed by the circumstances. I was in a cell with 10 other people… a lawyer and law lecture, but there I was in a prison cell.”

Yet even in that moment, he said, his perspective was transformed by faith.

“But it really, I recall my first night in prison, and that morning, before I left home, my wife and I had actually been reading from Genesis, opening chapters, Garden of Eden, an idyllic sort of setting. And I went to prison that evening.

"I wasn’t expecting to be, but it struck me that outside, the birds were still singing, and from even that window, I could see there were mountains, and there was a setting which was also a setting of God.”