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Book review: The treasures in “Critical And Biographical Essays Of Nana S.K.B. Asante"

Source: Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong, FGA

Book review: The treasures in “Critical And Biographical Essays Of Nana S.K.B. Asante"
MarryRight Ghana

Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development, begins his blurb on Nana Dr. S.K.B. Asante’s critical and biographical essays with the following statement:

“Few Ghanaians of any generation have had a career as long, as varied and as consequential as Nana S.K.B. Asante’s; government attorney, law teacher, international public servant, constitution framer, advisor to sovereign parties, commercial arbitrator, public intellectual and traditional monarch. Just as impressive is the fact that in each of these substantive roles, Nana has left a trail of writings." He goes further to say that “the essays tells in fine prose, rich in biography and history, the story of an intellectual technocrat keen to use his wealth of knowledge to address contemporary problems of development and to put that expertise in the service of his country and of the developing world at large.”

Dr. Agnes Akosua Aidoo, former Social Policy Advisor, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, describes the book as: "a historical gold mine filled with nuggets of analysis on the evolution of education, law, science, social policy, public policy, public service, constitutional development, nation building, and chieftaincy."

According to the eminent jurist, Hon. Justice Sir Dennis Adjei: “this masterpiece by Nana S.K.B. Asante which narrates his life journey from his hometown in Asokore to Achimota, academia, diplomacy, and finally back home is unique, inspiring, and educative. The book covers a broad spectrum of academic disciplines including constitutional law, commercial law, criminal law, international law, chieftaincy, leadership and governance, sociology, history and religions.”

Finally, Professor Kofi Abotsi, Dean of UPSA Law School, the reviewer of the book, has described Nana’s work as "an enchanting read."

This write-up unveils the treasures which the above writers are raving about in the hope of inspiring greater reading of the book and conversation on the many ideas espoused in the book.

Apart from the introductory biographical chapters, the book is divided into four sets of essays dealing with education, law and governance, socio-economic issues, and the celebration of selected heroes. 

Education

The author devotes three chapters in this section to Achimota, its impact on the class of 1950, his year group, a detailed account of the educational and professional careers of members of the 1951 Sixth Form Discussion Group after graduation, and Achimota’s contribution to nation building and development in Ghana, pointing out that Achimota’s experience over the years is still relevant to contemporary development issues. 

This section also chronicles the history of the Law Faculty (now Law School) at Legon and reviews the achievements and challenges of scholarly excellence of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. In this review, the author raises troubling questions about the application of Eurocentric criteria to the determination of scholarly excellence in African academies.

Hidden in the appendix of the book is the fascinating interrogation of the author’s intellectual history by a Nigerian post-doctoral student based in the City University of Hong Kong. The scholar’s penetrating questions, and the author’s illuminating responses provide a template for post-graduate research in law. 

Readers interested in legal education will find the author’s account of his student experiences in Nottingham and London Universities and Yale Law School instructive and entertaining. 

The section on education also includes a rare analysis of the contribution of traditional authorities in Ghana to the reception of Western education and the issues arising from the interaction between tradition and modernity.

Law and Governance 

The chapters in this section are at once historically illuminating and intellectually stimulating and provocative. It begins with a critical review of the received or imported Western law in Africa and questions the efficacy of some aspects of Western constitutional and legal precepts in Africa. This is contained in his Lagos lecture as far back as 1975. 

The author also provides a new, but possibly controversial, insights on the background to the celebrated Dombo and Sallah cases in 1970 and Ghana’s first major experience in restructuring its external debts including the memorable “yentua” statement on the repudiation of certain categories of external debts (1966 -1974).

As a Chairman of the Committee of Experts that formulated proposals for the 1992 Constitution, Nana provides us with exhaustive reflections on the evolution of that Constitution, the distinction between the report of his Committee and the final Constitution drafted by the Consultative Assembly, and also his recommendations for constitutional reform. 

He elaborates on these recommendations in his memorial lecture on B.J. da Rocha, highlighting his well-known advocacy of an inclusive system of governance as against extreme majoritarian and partisan approaches that are detrimental to nation-building and development in our circumstances.

In his musings as a chief in contemporary Ghana, Nana shares his experience of chieftaincy and his views on a more effective and realistic utilization of that institution in contemporary Ghana.

This section also presents a jurisprudential analysis of the efficacy of law as a tool of social change. A pervasive theme throughout the book is the author’s readiness to challenge or question orthodox or traditional concepts and practices in domestic as well as international law. His critique of traditional international investment law which has attracted international attention is summarized in the overview to the book.

Socio-Economic Issues

The rare gems in this section document the author’s fascinating experience as a development practitioner operating at national and international levels. The opening chapter recounts his World Bank missions to Seoul, South Korea, in 1968 in respect of the establishment of the Korea Development Finance Corporation, which played a critical role in the industrialization of South Korea. 

He also chronicles his involvement in the technical cooperation programme between the People's Republic of China and the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations (UNCTC) with respect to the implementation of China’s open-door policy throughout the 1980s. This was the strategic policy under which China admitted foreign investment and transacted business with transnational corporations from other countries mainly from Western Europe. 

Other chapters in this section portray Nana’s experience at the World Bank, the role of UNCTC in providing technical assistance to developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and economies in transition in Central and Eastern Europe, with respect to strategies for handling foreign investment and negotiating agreements with transnational corporations. 

A highly instructive chapter in this section is Nana’s experience in providing legal advice on various projects in natural resources throughout the world and the lessons derived from this experience. The section also includes an account of the international negotiations with several international financial institutions for financing for the execution of the Kpong Hydroelectric Project.

The reader of the book will be regaled by Nana’s memorable, but unsuccessful, campaign for election to the International Court of Justice and the politics of elections at the United Nations.

Celebrating Heroes and Heroines 

An interesting feature of the book is the significant space devoted to Nana’s portrayal of other personalities. The biographical essays are by no means limited to the author’s life story. They include fairly lengthy narratives on eminent personalities such as Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General of the United Nations, Sidney Dell, renowned UN Economist, Ephraim Amu, celebrated musicologist and philosopher and B.J. da Rocha, illustrious lawyer, politician, and legal scholar. 

There are also shorter tributes to the author’s heroes and heroines, both sung and unsung including Mrs. Adeline Akufo-Addo, former First Lady, Judge Thomas A. Mensah, former President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Professor Kwame Gyekye, J.B. Odunton, Dr. Seth Bimpong-Buta and Mrs. Agnes Effah Donkor. 

The author’s interest in the life stories of others is reflected in his meticulous plotting of the careers of his classmates and contemporaries at Achimota and Yale Law School. 

The book has its humorous features. Readers will be entertained by his witty anecdotes throughout the book. For example, his chairing of the sensitive debate on Kashmir at Leeds University, where he was a lecturer, and his chapter on name-dropping. On the whole, the reader will find the book an enchanting read indeed.