Monday, July 23, 2012

Ghana Politics 101: The Radio Lawyer

Anyone keeping up with Ghana politics will know that it is reaching a whole new level of farcical. It is a never-ending theatrical drama with comedy, irony, absurdity and of course tragedy. But that is another post for another day. One of the key actors actively involved in this drama is the "Radio Lawyer" a term that is worthy of an entry in the Ghanaian Political Lexicon for the Aspiring Politician


1. Radio Lawyer: any politician, journalist or social commentator who is a regular panelist on one of the many political discussion programmes aired on Ghanaian radio who provides legal interpretations. The radio lawyer will preface their submission with "I am not a lawyer but..." and then proceed to discuss cases pending in court, give legal opinions and also buttress their arguments with references to the Ghanaian constitution. The radio lawyer will vehemently argue the law with real lawyers and perhaps muddy issues which may mislead the public. The radio lawyer is actually not just restricted to radio but you may find "lawyers" giving opinions in public transport, work place canteens or even markets. In reality, Ghana is not only a country of 25 million football coaches, 25 million political commentators but also 25 million lawyers. 

4 comments:

Kwegyirba said...

So true. And some of the theories they propound are just superb. Its just shocking at times.

Abena Serwaa said...

@Kwegyriba lol. I always believe in leaving the law to lawyers like you!! BTW, nice to see you in the blogosphere. It has been ages!

Jerome said...

Hahaha. How did I miss this?

I love listening to radio lawyers. At times they're arguments are not much different from that of the lawyers themselves. And sometimes they make more sense.

Don't forget the Twitter lawyers too.

Abena Serwaa said...

Hahahaha @Jerome!BTW, I dey inside for the Twitter lawyers :)