Why Tsatsu Tsikata is not a judge

Ghanaian legal luminary Tsatsu Tsikata has revealed that his biggest dream growing up was to be a judge.

According to Tsatsu, he was inspired by a maternal uncle of his who was a judge to become a member of the bench.

Speaking on the KSM show on Pan African TV, Tsatsu explained that when he interviewed for a scholarship for secondary school education at Mfantsipim in 1959 as a nine-year-old, he told the interview panel of his lofty ambition of becoming a lawyer and then transitioning into a judge.

Tsatsu noted the panel was ‘startled’ by his ambition as they wondered why and how a nine-year-old will have such clarity in his dream.

“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 little boy. Those were my ambitions,” he said.

But after decades of practising as a lawyer, Tsatsu Tsikata is yet to be called to the bench and he has revealed the reason behind it.

He tells the show host that his venture into the oil and gas field dissuaded him from following his childhood dream of becoming a judge.

Tsatsu says he discovered his passion in the oil and gas industry and is unwilling to shelve that to be a judge.

“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 lawyer in the last 30 to 40 years. It’s still connected to the law and I get the chance to practice the law. And frankly, judges also have a tough job so I don’t envy them at all,” he said.