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Legal luminary, Tsatsu Tsikata says he does not regret giving up his childhood ambition of becoming a judge.
This, according to the former CEO of the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC), is because of the ‘tough’ nature of the job and the role played by judges.
Speaking on the KSM Show on Pan African TV, Mr Tsikata who is currently the lead counsel for former President John Dramani Mahama in the ongoing 2020 election petition hearing said, while he remained a lawyer, he developed an interest in oil and gas and geared towards the industry.
“I’m quite glad I didn’t become a judge for the simple reason that I have actually moved in a number of directions that is sought of not strictly legal practice.
“For instance, in oil and gas, which started off from the law angle but became a broader oil and gas international experience, and frankly that has been the passion of my life for the last 30 to 40 years.
“It is still connected with the law and I get the chance to do law things . And frankly, judges also have a tough job so I don’t envy them at all,” he said.
Explaining how he got into law, Mr. Tsikata told host, Kwaku Sintim-Misa that at the age of nine he had already made up his mind to become a lawyer because of how fascinated he was by his uncle; also a lawyer.
“My uncle Justice Akpaloo fascinated me into law. By the time I did my scholarship interview to go to Mfantsipim, I was already telling the interviewers that my aim was to be a lawyer and ultimately to be a judge. Most of the interviewers were startled by the ambition of this little boy,” he added.
Again, Mr. Tsikata explained that he rejected the presidential pardon from former President John Agyekum Kufuor in 2008 because his administration was bent on jailing him.
It will be recalled that on Wednesday, June 8, 2008, a High Court presided over by Justice Henrietta Abban jailed Mr. Tsikata for wilfully causing financial loss to the state.
But eight years on, the Court of Appeal ruled that the High Court unjustly jailed Mr. Tsikata and subsequently cleared him of any wrongdoing after Mr. Tsikata filed for an appeal.
Giving further details, the legal practitioner observed that there was a plot to undo the achievement chalked by former President Jerry John Rawlings in the oil and gas industry.
As such, he was made a scapegoat, since he was the CEO of the Commission during the Rawlings administration.
“There was a ‘determination’ by the Kufuor government to find fault with how Rawlings had handled the GNPC and I knew it would come down to me,” Tsatsu said.
Source: MyJoyOnline.com
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