MONDAY ESSAY: Tomorrow Always Comes: Reforming With Posterity In Mind

Introduction

It should be the highest ambition of every [one] to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.

Indeed, one of the major undecided questions of our times relates to how the interests of future generations are represented in our present days. This is more relevant when it comes to policy and decision making at the helm of affairs of institutions and nations. The general approach to policy making has been to prioritize the interests of current generations i.e. preferring policies that somewhat deliver immediate results as opposed to deferred benefits. Policies that are long term in nature are questioned by orientations that are short-term in nature and which are prevalent in modern representative democracies. Ghana’s legal education system shapes tomorrow’s lawyers, impacting justice delivery and national development. As Ghana evolves, so legal education must too. However. “tomorrow always comes” urges reformers to prioritize posterity – equipping future lawyers with skills for emerging challenges and also favouring quality over solutions that may potentially create new challenges.

Modernity and the neglect of posterity

Institutions are prone to bias towards laws and policies that favour present generations over future ones. This phenomenon, which is popular, known as presentism manifests in most leaders and citizens alike rubbishing the future and how current political and democratic processes can respond to their demands. This simply results in a neglect of posterity. It is not strange because this seems to be a normal human tendency – the tendency to prefer the immediate to the distant, “both in what a person fears and what a person desires.” All this works together to produce a culture of short-termism which runs through all of national life and development. This culture is even exacerbated by the rampant use and inclusion of social media into today’s governance mechanism. As a result, policymakers are made dance to the tune of the latest opinion polls and trends on social media – only resorting too quick fixes to issues that flow spontaneously from the media! Can policymakers totally be blamed? Not really. 

The way forward

All is not lost, all the same! The present legal generation has a part to play in representing posterity by acting as trustees of the reform process which must be democratic. Law and policy makers need to consider, at all costs, how every singular decision of theirs could affect the future legal generation from a qualitative stand point. It is always better to do the right thing now than to incur the conscience of posterity. Policy makers must think systematically about the future of the profession in the face of pressing demands of the day. It is for this purpose that reform must be progressively rolled to overcome its inherent short-termism so as to address the “inter-generational theft” that dominates the future. The reformers and the relevant policy makers should be willing and able to convince the current legal generation to pay a cost in the short term even if the benefits would be realized in the future. Such decisions would benefit our future selves and also future generations, as it is said, “a man does not plant a tree for himself, he plants it for posterity.” 

Conclusion

In conclusion, reform in Ghana’s legal educational system is a pivotal opportunity to shape the future of the country’s legal profession. By embracing a forward-thinking approach, we can acquire the adaptability needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world. By prioritizing for posterity, we can produce leaders who not only navigate tomorrow’s challenges but shape the nation’s development. Today’s reformers and legal policy makers must thus act as guardians of posterity by thinking for the longer-term so as to wipe the slate clean and ensure that posterity in the profession can thrive. One thing is sure; “the difference between a politician and a statesman is that the politician thinks about the next election while the statesman thinks about the next generation.” 

God bless!