By Joseph Kpormegbey
The pain of not having access to study materials as a student is an enormous one. Especially when one does not have the financial means as a student to purchase the same for keeps, a student is left hollow, and would obviously take a long while to catch up with those who have or can afford.
This scenario motivated Mr. Kimathi Kuenyehia, Managing Partner of Kimathi and Partners, a law firm to honour his promise of assisting the University of Ghana School of Law Library with books, on a yearly basis.
The donation, which was on Friday, November 22, 2024, at the University of Ghana law library, is part of a $10,000 book grant he promised the school five (5) years ago. The grant is spread over five years with the library receiving $2,000 GRANT in books each year for the past three years.
This year’s grant covered nineteen books mainly on Cybersecurity Law, Standards and Regulations, Law and the Internet, Oxford Handbook of The Law of the Sea, and The International Law of the Sea.
A lawyer at the law firm, Akua Pinamang Addae, said Mr. Kimathi Kuenyehia decided to give this book grant way back in 2019, as a way of giving back to society as he was once a student himself and knows that students do require all the necessary skills and knowledge that will help them in the pursuit of their aim of becoming exceptional lawyers.
“So he decided that he would give a book grant to the library to enrich the library with books so that students will have some of these materials that they would need available or handy so that when they come to the library, they would be able to access these books, which will overall help them become exceptional lawyers”, Ms Addae said.
She reiterated that “this whole donation is not just a financial commitment, but rather a reflection of Mr Kuenyehia’s deep belief in education, and also the importance of equipping students with the necessary skills and knowledge that they need in pursuit of their career as lawyers.
She said it was important to support and enrich the law library to foster a culture of knowledge and excellence.
Collection
The Acting University Librarian, Mr Samuel Bentil Aggrey, who received the books on behalf of the Dean of the Law School, Prof. Raymond Atuguba and Joe Antah Esq, the Law Librarian and Head of the Library, who were both out of campus attending to equally important assignments, lauded the firm for honouring its promise since 2019 to donate books to the library every year.
He said the donation would be of great benefit to the school and described the partnership as a unique one, as the partner is conscious and well-informed and doesn’t bring in just anything at all but the exact books the library needs.
“This donation will improve the legal knowledge of the students because these are both current and old books so it’s a blend with you learning from the past to the future which will enable you to know both past and current trends once the students get these materials in addition to what we have here already”, Mr. Aggrey noted.
He said the books received this year are mainly in two areas, namely IT Law and Law of the Sea, “which has special areas within the law discipline so it is like filling a gap and it will be an add-on to whatever we have now.”
Law Students Union
The President of the Law Students Union of the University of Ghana, Spencer Addo expressed gratitude to Kimathi and partners saying the books were a remarkable addition to the Ghana School of Library, and it is promoting the cause of legal education as a whole, as it will not only promote legal studies at the University of Ghana but also benefit the general public and practising lawyers.
Writer’s email: josephk688@gmail.com
