An ultra-modern lecture hall has been inaugurated at the Law Faculty at the University of Ghana, Legon, in honour of the late Moses Kweku Baiden.
The facility was inaugurated by three children of the Late Mr. Baiden – Mrs Adelaide Baiden Heward-Mills (LLB Class of 1986), Moses Kwesi Baiden Junior (LLB Class of 1989) and Kwesi Atta Payin Baiden (LLB Class of 1991), all lawyers in honour of the father.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Moses Baiden Jnr, indicated that it had been 23 years since the project began but was elated it had finally been completed and handed over to the Faculty.
He was full of joy he and his siblings had collaborated to upgrade infrastructure and facilities of the Faculty of the Ghana School of Law, lauding Prof. Akua Kuenyehyia’s visionary and initiative, which led to the fund-raising drive for the Law Faculty in the year 2000.
Mr. Baiden indicated that his late father had a passion for education, which he believed “was fundamental to the transformation of societies and advancement of nations.”
“This hall, Nana Kweku Baiden Senior Lecture Hall, is named in his memory to encourage others to follow the good example that he demonstrated through his life. What Moses Baiden achieved through funding, his wife did in practice and together they raised 13 children, four of them lawyers,” three of whom passed through the Faculty.
He disclosed that many of the late Mr. Baiden’s nieces, nephews and grandchildren are also lawyers, notable among them, Justice Avril Lovelace Johnson, a Justice of the Supreme Court.
He said his late father exhibited high ideals and ambitions and was committed to promoting the socio-economic and political interests of his country.
Mr Baiden also announced the institutional of an award for deserving students in the Law course dubbed the ‘Moses Kwaku Baiden Prize’.
Kwesi Atta Panyin Baiden, who read the father’s biography, described him as a “Daddy who never went to the Law School because he never had the opportunity but will always refer to himself as a pocket lawyer or lawyer by trade.”
Mrs. Adelaide Baiden Heward-Mills, daughter of the late Moses Baiden Snr. was glad to see the hall refurbished, indicating the gesture would advance the study of law in the country.
She recalled the “unclassical classrooms down the road” she used to attend lectures in during her time in the school which she said disappointed her.
Prof. Raymond Atuguba, the Dean of Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana, commended the family for the gesture and said their contribution had given credence to improving facilities at the Faculty.
The late Moses Nana Ewudzie Kweku Baiden Snr. was born on February 21, 1922, and died in August, 2011. He founded two important schools in the Western Region – Chapel Hill and the Nest School Complex.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak