President Akufo-Addo and his wife Rebecca, Leaders of Civil Society Organisations, the legal fraternity, family, friends, admirers, and sympathisers have attended the burial service of the Human Rights Activist and Lawyer, Anthony Akoto Ampaw.
At a memorial service to honour the Ghanaian lawyer, famous for offering pro-bono services, various personalities took turns to recollect and extol the late Lawyer’s impact on student activism, the fight for press freedom, human, civil and political rights, among others.
Dedicating over half a century of his life to the cause of promoting social justice, human rights, democracy and freedom on the continent, Lawyer Akoto Ampaw, popularly known as “Sheey Sheey,” passed away on October 20, 2023, aged 73.
President Akufo-Addo, Chief Justice Gertrude Torknornoo, Media expert Prof Kwame Karikari, Managing Editor of Insight Newspaper Kwesi Pratt, and Co-Ordinator of Third World Network Dr Yao Graham, among other personalities from all walks of life, attended the burial service.
At a candlelight held last week in his memory, the Chief Justice, who served on the Law Reform Commission with ‘Sheey Sheey’, described him as a legal practitioner whose processes were well researched and relevant.
She said his work had absolute integrity and his citation could be relied on. The Chief Justice added that everyone, regardless of background, has been affected because he had so much to give.
Prof. Karikari said as a student, Sheey Sheey’s mates and teachers at the then Law Faculty of the University of Ghana could attest to his above-average academic credentials.
At the personal social level, Prof. Karikari said Mr. Akoto Ampaw was generous to many people, both young and old, with wise counseling to solve personal problems the same way he offered free professional legal services, especially to the poor and needy.
In a remark on behalf of the Secretary General of the TUC, Dr Kwabena Nyarko Otoo said all cases Mr Ampaw handled for the union were done for free.
Born in 1950, Mr Ampaw was a graduate of the University of Ghana and the Ghana School of Law.
Sheey Sheey later joined the law firm Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co., which was founded by President Akufo-Addo and other prominent lawyers.
He became a partner of the firm and specialised in Commercial, Company, Industrial, Litigation, Constitutional, Media, Labour, and Investment laws, among others.
He will be buried on Saturday, December 16, at his hometown in the Oti region.
