When Law became a revolution: A call to conscience in Ghana’s era of rising lawyers

As Ghana continues to churn out more lawyers than engineers, a growing number of citizens and experts are questioning whether this trend could slow the country’s development. Critics argue that while legal education is essential, a nation built on too many interpreters of law and too few builders of infrastructure risks stagnating in its quest for industrial and economic growth.

It is against this backdrop that Benjamin Anyagre Aziginaateeg, Chief Executive Officer of the AfriKan Continental Union Consult (ACUC), has released a thought-provoking piece, “When Law Became a Revolution: Fidel and the Measure of Conscience in Ghana and Afrika.”

His reflection draws lessons from the life of Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary who turned the law into a weapon of justice and conscience rather than a mere profession of privilege.

In his piece, Anyagre recounts how Castro, trained as a lawyer between 1945 and 1950, refused to let legality become “the graveyard of justice.”

He writes that Fidel “studied law not to defend privilege, but to defend the poor, the voiceless, the humiliated,” turning “the gown of the lawyer into the uniform of a soldier.”

The piece traces Castro’s journey from a young lawyer suing the dictatorship to a revolutionary leader who “transformed defeat into a movement,” leading to Cuba’s liberation on January 1, 1959. “Law, once silenced in court, spoke again. through land reform, education for the masses, and the nationalization of greed,” Anyagre notes.

Reflecting on Africa, he questions whether the law today serves the same noble purpose.

“In many Afrikan states. The law is a profession before it is a principle, a tool for income, not for conscience. Where Fidel sued the dictatorship, we sue for contracts. Where Fidel confronted corruption, we defend it for a fee,” he laments,

His concerns echo ongoing national debates about the country’s growing number of lawyers compared to engineers and technical professionals. According to available data, Ghana currently has about 11,000 lawyers, with roughly 8,000 in active practice, a ratio of one lawyer to every 5,000 citizens. Yet, as reports reveal, over 76% of these lawyers are concentrated in Greater Accra, leaving many regions without proper legal representation.

While law graduates increase each year, the Legal Aid Commission, responsible for defending citizens who cannot afford counsel, has only 34 lawyers serving nationwide, with many districts lacking a single representative.

Meanwhile, Ghana continues to grapple with a shortage of engineers and technical experts, particularly in infrastructure, energy, and manufacturing sectors vital to national development.

Anyagre’s message is clear: the law must regain its soul.

“Law ceases to be a social engineering option once used to defend the luxuries of corruption, graft, and state capture. The Law is the Law when used to defeat corruption, graft, and state capture, hinged on truth, equity, and justice.”

By drawing on Cuba’s history, the Anyagre invites Ghanaians, especially the growing legal community, to see law not merely as a career, but as a covenant with the people. He reminds readers of John Mensah Sarbah, Ghana’s pioneer lawyer, who used his knowledge to resist colonial exploitation through the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society.

As the country celebrates Castro’s centenary in 2026, Anyagre’s reflection stands as a moral challenge to a new generation of lawyers: to use their knowledge not just to interpret statutes, but to ignite transformation.

His call resonates with a timely question: can Ghana’s progress depend solely on legal minds, when its development urgently needs the hands of engineers, innovators, and builders?

Find below the full statement…

When Law Became a Revolution: Fidel and the Measure of Conscience in Ghana and Afrika

The Awakening of Law-
There are moments in human history when law ceases to be a book of codes and becomes a living flame — when the letter yields to the spirit, and justice walks in the streets, clothed in courage.

So it was with Fidel Castro Ruz, the young law student from Havana who refused to let legality become the graveyard of justice.
He studied law between 1945 and 1950, not to defend privilege, but to defend the poor, the voiceless, the humiliated.

He turned the gown of the lawyer into the uniform of a soldier — and from the courtroom rose a revolution.

Soldiering the Law-
In 1952, Castro sought to serve through Parliament, under the Orthodox Nationalist Party, the Cuban People’s Party (CPP).
But the guns of General Fulgencio Batista silenced that dream, toppling constitutional order and mocking the rule of law.

Where others would have despaired, Fidel chose to soldier the law — to wield it not as an ornament of the elite, but as a sword of justice.

He sued the regime-
He invoked the constitution.
He appealed to reason.
But when law was strangled by dictatorship, he reached for another weapon — the same courage that law was meant to uphold.

When Law Became Rebellion-
On 26 July 1953, he led 160 young activists — mostly students — in an audacious assault on the Moncada Barracks.
It failed, and many fell.
Fidel, Raúl, and others were captured.
In court, denied legal counsel, Fidel stood alone.
But his defense became a roar of truth:
“History will absolve me!”
That was not merely a plea — it was the rebirth of law as the conscience of a nation.
Every jurist should read it, not for its rhetoric, but for its reverence — the reverence of one who believed that law must breathe,
must feel,
must fight for the people.

Sentence-
Sentenced to fifteen years, he was imprisoned on the Isle of Pines (now the Isle of Youth).
But in 1955, freed by amnesty, he transformed defeat into a movement — The 26th of July Movement — whose echo would shake an imperial empire.

The March from Law to Liberation-
In exile in Mexico, Fidel met Che Guevara, and together they forged a dream of justice with the motto:
“When we land, we shall enter; when we enter, we shall fight; and when we fight, we shall win.”
They returned to Cuba with 81 revolutionaries aboard the Granma. Many perished, but a few survived — climbing to the Sierra Maestra, where law, love, and revolution met in the mountain winds.
From there, justice descended upon Havana on the first dawn of 1 January 1959.

Law, once silenced in court, spoke again- through land reform, education for the masses, and the nationalization of greed.
Fidel turned the law into a covenant with the people.

The Sources of His Flame-
Two spirits guided him:
• José Martí, the poet – jurist – interpretor who wrote freedom in six languages and died for it on the battlefield; and
• Karl Marx, the philosopher who taught that justice without equality is only privilege disguised.
Between Martí’s heart and Marx’s mind, Fidel found the soul of revolution — the point where law and love become one.

The ideals of Jose Marti resonate in a living revolutionary process purposefully situated by Fidel. A cultural revolution credited with a literate nation, free education, preventive and curable health systems, abundant shelter, food and non racist society backed by law.

Reflections for Afrika-
And now, we turn the mirror to Afrika.
What, then, is the purpose of law in our transformation?
Is it a light, or a livelihood?
Is it a public trust, or a private trade?
In many Afrikan states, the law is a profession before it is a principle — a tool for income, not for conscience.
Where Fidel sued dictatorship, we sue for contracts.
Where Fidel confronted corruption, we defend it for a fee.
The learned wear wigs, but their wisdom is caged.
The constitution sleeps untested; its guardians dine with its violators.

Echoes from the Gold Coast-
Yet, in our history, the spirit once burned bright.
John Mensah Sarbah, called to the British Bar in 1887, used the law to defend his people.
With others, he founded the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society (ARPS) in 1897, to resist colonial land theft — the Lands Bill and Crown Lands Bill that would have stripped natives of their inheritance.

Ultimate of Law-

A country enslaved with corrupt governance reverses socio-economic transformational processes especially in rural communities and re-urbanization almost denied.

Legals exist to battle those odds of a systemic corruption to save money for required state transportation and pay a living wage.

Law ceases to be a social engineering option, once used to defend the luxuries of corruption, graft and state capture.

The Law is the Law when used to defeat corruption, graft, and state capture hinged on truth – equity and justice.

Fidel Castro is 100 in 2026!!!

Benjamin Anyagre Aziginaateeg,
Chief Executive Officer,
AfriKan Continental Union Consult -ACUC-
Ghana.

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