THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2010
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu, has made what could be best described as an outrageous confession, after revealing publicly that she is living impoverished life because she chose to be in the legal profession.
The former Director of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat stunned law students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), when she told them bluntly that she is poor because she opted to become a lawyer. Being conscious of the indigent nature of the profession, Mrs. Betty Mould said she never encouraged any of her relatives to study law as future career. “I must tell you for a fact that I am very poor, and that is probably the reason why I did not allow any of my children to take law as a profession”, the soft spoken Attorney General stated much to the astonishment of the entire students.
In a country where legal practitioners are highly-respected and viewed as affluent people, Mrs. Betty Moulds shocking revelation may be considered by some people as either cynical or outrageous. Addressing student of the KNUST Law Faculty during the Official Opening Ceremony of the 7th Annual Law Week celebration, the Attorney-General further revealed her frustration over what she described as unfair criticisms by the public on her outfit, anytime the government loses a case against individuals.
When we win cases, no one hears about it, but if we lose just one, all hell breaks loose; they will say the Attorney-General is not competent, forgetting that we are dealing with justice system”, she lamented. She noted that her job as the State’s Chief Prosecutor puts her in a tight corner because she is expected to pursue the agenda of the nation and also make sure justice is given to every citizen of this country. “I am under constant pressure to appease all forms of people including NDC, NPP and all manners of citizens.
She however attributed the unjustifiable criticisms by the public to clear case of misconception, stressing that her office deals with several cases on daily basis and has been winning a lot of legal battles ranging from economic to social crimes.
The GBA President also advised the law students to take a multi-faceted approach to education by upgrading themselves information technology in order to make versatile contribution to the new democratic society where probity and accountability are expected of all public officials in the performance of their duties.