Democracy at Work

I got some field training today. At the suggestion of my BYU advisor I asked my supervising attorney for an opportunity to spend a day or two with the local counsel for the church. In other words, I did "real" legal work today. I don't really how much I am allowed to talk about, especially in such a public place as this blog. But essentially, the church had an option on property adjacent to the church building which fronted the road. Through the course of much runaround another owner built a small temporary business on the property. To put this in a polite way, the business was "counter the interests" of the church and "desecrated" the property. Today we met with the city council to try and resolve the issue. The adventure began when I found out the city was a three hour drive and the meeting was scheduled to begin at 9:00. So it was a 5:00 am walk up call this morning. I jumped in the 96 Mercedes of the local counsel, Ted Goh, and off we went to Sekondi-Takoradi. You will see it at the bottom left of the map you are looking at.

The drive took us along the coast and was not short on good scenic views. I've decided that Africa never sleeps, and even at 5:45 in the morning the streets of Accra were packed with vendors and cars. I have never driven in a 3^rd world country before, and frankly I am not going to complain about it. All signs and lights are only suggestions in an attempt to keep some order. Commuting in Ghana is nothing short of Darwin at his finest. Survival of the fittest. At one point we past a speed limit sign of 50 kilometers per hour, I happened to glace at his speedometer – 160. You math majors can tell me what that is in mph, but it felt like 130. We did get pulled over at one police check point. But when he saw we were lawyers, he just laughed, told us to slow down, and sent us on our way. Ted told me it's because they know they can't ask lawyers for bribes. Ted spent his high school years in Minnesota on an exchange scholarship. He came back to Ghana after graduation and attended law school here. He has done fairly well for himself, considering the state of most of his fellow Ghanaians. We talked politics a little. He was interested in Mitt Romney, and wanted to know how he made all his money. When I told him that he was a professional clean up man, we joked about how much it would cost to get him to Ghana. The presidential elections in Ghana take place this coming December. Various organizations and groups have posted banners urging the people to have a peaceful election. Ghana fell victim to a series of military coups through the 80's and 90's. Only since 2000 has there been a peaceful transition of power through democratic elections. Ted said he respects America for what they are able to do. He knows that the problems of Americans differ in many respects than those of Ghanaians, but admires the country's commitment as a whole to democracy. As we drive we pass under a bridge with a left over 50 year celebration banner from last year's festival Ghana's independence from Great Britain. Ted speaks of how, after 50 years of owning their own land many of the same problems that existed then remain. If the people respected democracy as American's, he thought, these problems would have been solved years ago. The people would be respected and helped by their government, not enslaved and exploited.

We arrive at the government offices at 8:59. In a bit of a hurry we jostle up the stairs. The chief executive has not even arrived for the day yet, neither has the opposing counsel, nor the other members of the city council. In fact, the secretary has no idea what "meeting" we are talking about. I smile and think about what Ted said about respect for democracy. Ted has to show her the letter that scheduled the meeting and then push her to get everything organized. We are let into the chambers of the executive to wait. At 9:16 he shows up, and graciously greets us as if nothing is wrong. He decides it would be best to wait for the other counsel. After an hour and a half, we are told that the notification letter was never delivered to opposing counsel. Accordingly, they most likely will not arrive. (Ted later tells me that the opposing party is a son of a prominent man. He thinks the non-deliverance is an effort to thwart the churches efforts). Ted pushes to do the meeting without them, to let us present our case. It's a good thing he does too. The meeting lasts about 30 minutes in which Ted presented the churches arguments. They all seemed to agree, and since no one was there to disagree, they directed us the steps we needed to take to resolve the issue. We left with smiles. I begin to realize that Ted understands life as a lawyer in Africa.

Next we stop at the recorder's office in this same city to retrieve some records regarding another dispute. Ted had dropped off a formal retrieval request the week before. The manager does not remember ever seeing any such request. Once again, Ted pushes. The request is found, but nothing has been done on it. Ted asks how long will it take. He tells us to come back at 3:00 that afternoon. Ted says we will see him then. As we walk out the door, I ask if we are going to wait. "no," he says, "but I want it to be ready next week."

By now the sun had risen and the heat soaked the car. We next drove to Cape Coast to try an locate more documents for another dispute going on in this district. Ted has established a little more amicable relations with this registrar. In fact, there was a long line outside his door. But like the traffic, lines are subject to other right-of-ways and we walked straight in and received an audience. I forgot to mention that Ted carried 4 cell phones with him. One for each provider in the country. Depending where you are he uses a different phone. This whole time he has been switching through phones trying to talk to someone back in Accra. Our last stop is the High Court Building in downtown Cape Coast to get a copy of the docket from a case a few years ago. I get to see my first courtroom. The bench where the judge sits is nice. Fine wood, polished and shiny. I look to where the people are to sit. Well, the picture will speak for itself. I think about the state of the democracy again.

Because we are close Ted invites me to walk into Cape Coast Castle. It is actually an old slave trade fort. I believe it is the only one in Ghana open to the public. They wanted 8 dollars to go into the dungeon, but we didn't have time. I looked out over the ocean and tried to imagine what took place here just under 200 years ago. In fact, the reason Britain ended up colonizing Ghana was to arrest the Ashanti people from selling other tribes to illegal European slave traders. Evidently their problems with democracy have a long history. But who am I to judge. It took millions of lives in our own country in the most savage war of our short history to end slavery. The authority of a democracy was a primary, if not the controlling issue of the conflict.

Well, this has gone on too long. Eventually we made it home. At one point it rained so hard that I literally could not see the break lights of the car in front of us. The highlights of the drive was our lunch at a beachfront resort. Dressed in my tie I felt like a CIA agent straight from Alias or something. I also enjoyed the "Lion King trees." At least that is what I called them. I tried to get a good picture, but the speed of the car and the height of the trees made it difficult. Eventually, around 6 pm we strolled back into Alema Court. I thank Ted for his generosity. I invited him out to Utah sometime and tell him I'll buy him lunch at Burger King. He laughs and says he would like that. "I don't think there will be a Burger King here anytime soon."