1. University of Ghana School of Law (UGSoL) – Why I should be among the selected students for the Post-First Degree Bachelor of Law (LLB) Program for the 2015/2016 academic year

Just so you know: I am Torgbui Michael. Twenty seven (27) years of age. I am sickle cell person and with some form and degree of physical disability. Manifestations that people, though rarely, tag as evolutionary weaknesses, but which I have always insisted, and will forever do, are diverse evolutionary expressions.

It took me quite some time to put myself down and to bleed my burning emotions on my computer screen: why I should be among the selected students for the Post-First Degree Bachelor of Law (LLB) Program for the 2015/2016 academic year. Three reasons have accounted for such difficulty. First: I was trained, brought up, to respect authority, in whatever form, in whatever degree, and in whatever status or social class. So to put out these emotions, for which I honestly intend to not use as a  medium to criticize authority or any established process, but which others might judge as being critical, was not easy for me. Second:  I was in a certain considerable amount of dilemma as to whether I am indeed right in bleeding these emotions or out-rightly wrong in doing so. I have given it much thought, and I’m inclined to take the former. And third: the heavy dosage of inculcated fear from colleagues who strongly think that putting out such an article will, forever after, dim my prospects of any future admission to the UGSoL. I have, again, given this also much thought, and I have decided to write anyway (with faith in the UGSoL as being an institution of firm democratic motivations and their respect of individuality in opinion) and to still vouch, for myself, that I (having gone through the exams, to the interview stage) should have been part of the admitted list for the Post-First Degree Bachelor of Law program at the UGSoL for the 2015/2016 academic year.

And here’s why.

Before my application to the UGSoL

I have always had the dream to read law. In the early days of my senior secondary school through to my undergraduate years, I have harbored, fed and nurtured this dream. Right after completion of my undergraduate degree in English & Psychology (Second Class Upper Division), I was enrolled in my national service in a senior secondary school to teach.  I have neatly crafted a plan to apply to the law school right after my completion of national service. But just a week into my registration and commencement of my service, a health condition that has been troubling me, (that necessitated my final semester papers to be written from the university hospital bed) and which is closely linked to the one I have aforementioned, reoccurred. I had to attend to it once and for all. So I traveled to South Africa to seek treatment. I came back at a later date and was unable to do my service. But as a law abiding citizen and a role model for my community folks, I enrolled the following year and did my national service.

In the final weeks in my national service role, my community faced a huge challenge. A peasant population, of about 1200, was sold to an expatriate estate development firm, for the construction of a luxury beach resort and boat marina. The project, very huge and job-creating in nature, was welcomed by the people. But the people wanted to be adequately compensated and rightly so. Yet the estate development firm will listen less to that plea or better still a right. They wanted forceful ejection, of men, women and children. There I saw a community, my community, facing a stark challenge but unarmed with the appropriate knowledge and platform to fight for their rights, the very rights that have been enshrined in our constitution. So I took up the challenge. As one of the few persons with a higher educational background, I started reading articles on compensation, read articles on violations of human rights, did expansive research on the area of law called tort, read cases with similar issues, bought law books with specialization on property law, went to consulting firms with staunch dedications to the protection of human rights, read into the constitutional principle of adverse possession and even had to spend one whole day at the UGSoL library. With sweat on my brows, with pain in my back and with the courage in my heart, I read and researched. I did this to save my community. I did this to prevent the forceful ejection of a community, my community that has resided at their location for over five decades.

In the heat of these challenges, in the search of justice for my village, and in an attempt to ensure that what is right is done, (by a firm whose tentacles are wide and across) my resolve to do law was crystallized. My desire was strengthened. During these journeys, a pristine, unadulterated and worthy motivation was borne.

In the course of safeguarding the rights of my village and my community, I have raced and waited on corridors of power, of institutions and of people. The Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC) in Accra, Amnesty International Office in Accra, the office of the famed human rights activist, Xavier Kojo Sosu, all heard of our pleas, took our depositions, read our articles and perused our petitions. The honorable Minister of Tourism, the honorable Member of Parliament for Ada East Constituency and Minister of State, Radio Universe at the Legon campus, Minister and Deputy Minister for Greater Accra, Minister for Land and Natural Resources, and other concerned people did hear of our case: that of the Maranatha Beach Camp and the village of Kewunor’s protest against TEDC for the latter’s difficulty in securing a FEASIBLE location and ADEQUATELY compensating the former.

During my application to UGSoL

Upon realization and the crystallization of my desire to read law, motivated from reasons worth their course, I decided to expand my knowledge on the area of law. I read cases (now with a wide purview) from the West African Court of Appeal, University of Ghana Law Journal, read on preparation of cases, subscribed and read every publication from the Yale School of Law, learned about a thousand law terminologies, and wrote articles with strict focus on the area of law. Though these articles could be considered novice in its approach, they are impressive considering the profundity of knowledge exuded in them from someone who is yet to be in the field of law, and they include Dabbling with Caution: the Experimentation with new concepts in the criminal jurisprudence of Ghana, written in response to claims that jury selection could be initiated for the infamous KKD rape case; Equality before the law: A true constitutional provision or mere legal mirage; written in response to the outrageous case of a judge having to parade a convicted person on the street for stealing a goat and another judge having to acquit others who, on the face of the evidence, should be convicted; Inundating the Corridors: The Necessary Case of State Attorneys at the Decision and Negotiation Level of Every Government Agencies and Ministries, an article written in response to the unprecedented cases of judgment debt incidents and the necessary requirement that state attorneys get involved in these cases, in the pre and post negotiation levels of government contract; and The Unequal Encounter: A Case of Inequitable Display of Experience, Profundity and Deftness of Post-Graduate Law Students over their Undergraduate Counterparts, an essay written to look at the conspicuous display of inexperience and the lack of tact in undergraduate law students compared to their post-graduate colleagues). I have also followed and read (word-to-word) judge Thokozile Masipa’s verdict on the Oscar Pristorius trial; read the Aaron Hernandez trial in the US early this year, read and followed Boris Nemtsov murder trial and claims that Zaur Dadayev’s (the alleged culprit) confession was forced; read the published article of the incidence of suicide among Tulane law students; read the dozen pages of the supreme court decision on the landmark case of Ghana’s election petition;  read, listen and downloaded podcasts of every legal issue happening around the globe; and I still do. I also wrote a compelling self evaluation because I had learned from my researches that the written self evaluation is very important in the admission process. I have read (at least a publication each) by thirty percent (30%) of the lecturers at the UGSoL.

Apart from that, I have expanded my reading focus; I have read books on philosophy, I have read books on law, on public speaking, on religion, on health, science, faith, poetry, neuroscience, cybersecurity and many others. The Law by Frederic Bastiat, Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegard, The Apology by Plato, the Nicomachea Ethics by Aristotle, Practical Concepts in Contract Law by Zarrokh Ehsan; The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho; Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich; 13 Secrets of Success by Napoleon Hill again; Gilead by Marillyne Robinson, Awaken the Giants within by Tony Robbinson; The Art of War by Sun Tsu; Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankle; the-7-habits of highly effective people; 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene; Dreams from my Father by American president Barack Hussein Obama; Intro to Civil Legal Law Systems and other books that space and time will not allow me to mention. I have also perused and fell in love with the top 100 speeches of the 20^th century (www.americanrhetoric.com) and have learned, through interesting revelations, the modes of speech writing, the intricacies of word choice and its meaning, and the general rules in rhetoric. I have even watched for several times, the famed 1993 America drama and inspiring law movie, Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. I was happy that I have acquired these insights. I was enliven that I had this knowledge and had these excitements validated when after buying and reading Glanville Williams Learning the Law, he beautifully posits that (and I quote): “a lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect”

Sorry to sound boastful and condescending here but at this point I have no other cards on my table to play with. So I stand to ask myself how many of the admitted students have had an intimate encounter with the masterpieces of C.S Lewis, of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, read of the works of Mark Twain (aka Samuel Langhorne Clemens), of Charles Dickens, of J.M Coetzee, of Ben Okri, of the colorful works of African writers like Ama Atta Aidoo, Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiongo, of Efo Kodjo Mawugbe, and several writers in their legion. I stand again and ask myself that how many of the admitted students have read works of winners of the Booker Prize, works of winners of the Pulitzer prize, works of winners of the Edgar Allan Poe awards and the rest of the international book awards. How many have been dazzled by the mystery and ingenuity of artworks, of paintings like Caravaggio’s Adoration, Vemeer’s Concert, Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee,  of works of Cezanne, Van Gogh, Manet, Degas, Modigliani, Picasso, Warhol, Eugene Delacroix and many others.

I have always read on key essentials that every prospective law student should have. Research skills, effective writing skills, efficient presentation and communication skills, perseverance, integrity, honesty and many others are among these requirements. I can say that I have some of them, and I was hoping that the UGSoL gets to nurture the rest when I get admitted. I have researched and written a 250 page manuscript on the condition of sickle cell disease (awaiting publication) and titled Living with Sickle Cell Disease, An Experiential Perspective; created and manage a facebook platform that is dedicated to creating an awareness of sickle cell disease and which has reading audiences in most African countries; I have a slot at www.myjoyonline.com where I write weekly articles on sickle cell disease titled Notes of a Sickle Cell Person; on communication and writing; I have presented reports and petitions at the Flagstaff House in relation to the plight of my community that I earlier mentioned; established and manage a facebook page that was dedicated to campaigning for the rights of my community and which has garnered support around the world; I am an freelancer at Elance, an online writing platform, among others. Sorry I might sound arrogant, but I really am bleeding with heavy emotions because of this disqualification, and more so because, this was my second time of applying to the UGSoL and getting disqualified at the interview stage. The idea to do law is not, to me, an alien fixation and fascination, an endeavour that is beyond my capability. No. I have a couple of my course-mates at the UGSoL and the GIMPA School of Law. So the desire to read law is not a mission that is beyond my capabilities and for which I am profusely struggling to satisfy.

I am not trying to portray, through these skills and abilities that I have stipulated, that my success as a law student will be a fait accompli. No. I am trying to convey, that these skills and abilities are necessary requirements, into entering into any prestigious institution like the UGSoL and more so, that these skills and abilities should have had avenues or platforms to get elicited and expressed from candidates by the admission board or committee, apart from the criteria of having to write examinations and upon having passed, being invited for an interview, a platform that did not do enough in eliciting a candidate’s varied experiences and perspectives on life and his or her contribution to humanity, and his society in particular. I am not trying to impugn the integrity of the admission board. No. Far from that. But not knowing the marks that I had from my examinations and not knowing the scores that I chalked in my interview (bearing in mind that I was invited to an interview for the 2014/2015 academic year and got disqualified) upon which I will have to improve my weaker areas and maximize efforts on my strengths is not the best.  Having the whole admission process based (from enquiries that I made myself whiles at the interview and from colleagues who are students there) on the examination alone [where the examination(100marks) will take precedence over the interview(50marks)] whiles leaving out mechanisms or processes that will elicit key skills that I have and which other disqualified candidates could have had does less good in recruiting a class of students with the high level of intelligence and profundity for the academic task of reading law but also with a fair idea of what life is and their experiences with it.

I know the field of law is only a reserve for people with the academic and intellectual muscle. But I also know that having an impeccable academic record before entering law school or graduating with a good distinction does not (some of the time) translate to being a good lawyer or a good attorney. Evidences abound as to why it is so, and the current judicial scandal justifiably attests so: that good law students, who proceeded to become lawyers, with impeccable academic credentials are not necessarily good judges or attorneys when they are in practice.

Sometime in August this year, Ernst & Young, one of the UK’s biggest graduate recruiters, has announced it will be removing the degree classification from its entry criteria, saying there is “no evidence” success at university correlates with achievement in later life. Maggie Stilwell, EY’s managing partner for talent, said the company would use online assessments to judge the potential of applicants. “Academic qualifications will still be taken into account and indeed remain an important consideration when assessing candidates as a whole, but will no longer act as a barrier to getting a foot in the door” she said. Earlier this year also, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) scrapped using UCAS points as entry criteria for its graduate scheme. The audit firm believes placing too much emphasis on the scores will mean employers may miss out on key talent from disadvantaged backgrounds, who can perform less well at school. I believe that the UGSoL should also develop other schemes of assessment to enable them identity and pick key talents and skills of students so that sole reliance on the outcome of the entrance examination and interview can be minimized.

I am sure someone reading this will be asking this question: if I will be writing this article have I been admitted to the UGSoL? No. I will not be writing this article because it will not make sense anyway. But let that person tell me when or in what instances or circumstances has the world made progress, advance our civilization, enhance our knowledge, improved our adaptation, broadened our frontiers or discovered new insights in moments of victory, in times of happiness, or in situations of comfort? No. None. The archives or history are bereft of such examples. But our history is fully replete with great moments of discovery, wonderful instances of progress and inspiring acts of courage, when men, whiles in difficult situation or challenging times, look inside themselves, took thoughtful introspections, asked bold questions and experimented with threatening ideas and concepts.

When 395 of us were invited for interview, I thought that 100 or 120 of us will be called, which will represent a fair percentage based on the number of people who attended. But only 70 was called or admitted. After making enquiries, I realized also that the UGSoL cannot accept a number greater than 70 because of infrastructural limitations. So I might not be the only one who could have had these skills and got disqualified and the fault cannot also, entirely, be blamed on the UGSoL. The faculty cannot, by itself, build structures for teaching and learning. That responsibility rests within the ambits of the university community and the state at large.

Finally, as I try to recover from the emotional trauma of having been disqualified (for a second time), and still holding unto the conviction that the UGSoL should have put in place assessment mechanisms that will allow people like us to get admitted (not solely on our academic performance but on other talents and skills), I will go back to my community, mobilize a concerted effort to fight for our rights to our lands and leverage the opportunities available to me (now that they have elected me as their Assemblyman because of my contributions) to ensure that what is right is done. An old, educated man in my village, who regales me with lessons and tales of old, once told me: that when a man’s willing and eager, the gods join in. From my preparations for the University Of Ghana School Of Law (UGSoL), I know I was willing. From all indications, I know I was eager. The gods have joined in also. But I think that is not enough. Men have too. UGSoL has to. But they never did. I hope they do, some other time.