Tributes pour on social media for late Justice Marful-Sau
My condolences to the family of the late Justice Samuel Kofi Marful-Sau.
Ghanaians have taken to social media to eulogize the late Justice Marful-Sau, barely hours after he was reported to have passed on.
Tributes have come from persons ranging from journalists, Members of Parliament, legal practitioners, students and observers of the famed 2020 Election petition brought by former President, John Mahama.
We have sampled a few of these from Facebook and Twitter.
May the soul of the departed rest in peace.
Hon. Francis-Xavier Sosu
I took this picture with His Lordship Justice Samuel Marful-Sau when I was called to the Bar in 2010. He was an inspiration to me and many of us young Lawyers at the Bar. Ghana has indeed lost a great legal brain. Rest In Peace Your Lordship Justice Samuel Marful-Sau. You lived. You served and I pray that the mercies of God will find you so you find eternal rest. God be with you till we meet again.
Kwaku Azar
Your 10/1/19 email read:“ It is now clear that we need to critically review the components of legal education in Ghana. Things are not adding up. Thanks for your advocacy. One day the reforms will happen. I am doing well. Wish you well. Greetings.Marful-Sau.”Sammy, you did what you could within your powers and in your own style. It is unfortunate that you were not around to see the reforms but we will soldier on. Your Civil Procedure book will one day be used by first or second year law students at the Universities. Rest In Peace, His Lordship.Da Yie!
Edudzi Kudzo Tameklo
Great jurist Samuel Kofi Marfo Sau JSC You have done your best Gentleman After teaching me Civil Procedure at the Ghana School of Law.When I got called to the Bar and decided to do the LLM in Oil and Gas Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, you were again my lecturer in Oil and Gas Contracting Rest well, mi lord.
Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang
Still can’t close my eyes. Still can’t sleep. My Lord your younger brother Maxwell or Aduro as you pleased says Fare Thee Well. Thanks for helping me to make Agyapomaa a lawyer. I still hold dear your last advice to me in June: Aduro positions in this life is but divine. You encouraged me to join the bench. Indeed you promised to be my Judicial mentor. I promised to make a decision very soon. Alas. You were loved by your students and cherished by the faculty. Only yesterday I recommended your book on Civil Procedure to a prospective foreign student. My Lord Marful Sau Rest in Perfect Peace and say hello to your great pal Edzie of MOPA fame
Christian Lebrecht Malm-Hesse
My condolences to your family.Learned Justice of the Supreme Court you have fought a good fight and your works have come to an earthly end.I have known you since childhood through my learned uncle of glory, David Andreas Hesse Esq (founder and then Managing Partner of Hesse & Hesse). Myself and my cousins used to play at your then Nyaniba house, Accra.You endorsed my law school forms for application and your candid advice still beams in my head. I went on to become a lawyer.I appeared before you at the Supreme Court, Accra on the 6th day of July, 2021 and when i mentioned my full name you were quick to correct your learned peers – Justices on the correct pronunciation and spelling of my name…. I requested the case to be adjourned only to mean that we not meeting again.Sad!!! FAR THEE WELL JUSTICE.
Kobbina Mensah
When you get the opportunity, enjoy life and make your soul happy. They say good men don’t live long and today’s news probably confirms it. Don’t just be a good man to others, be good to your body and soul because death is cruel. I am sure if nature were to ask lawyers, law students and judicial service staff and in fact Ghanaians in general to vote a candidate for death, Justice Samuel Kofi Marful-Sau would have been the last. Yet a good man is gone just like that.
Opoku Nti Ernest
Justice Samuel Marful-Sau? An exceptional teacher and a great jurist. I’m sad!
Wilberforce A. Asare
I took this picture of Justice Samuel Marful-Sau on the 19th of November 2018 when he met with journalists (members of the Judicial Press Corps) at the media room of the Law Court Complex, to brief us on ongoing digitisation efforts of the Judicial Service. The news of your death has really really broken me. However, the all -knowing God, beyond certainty, knows best.Fare thee well your Lordship!
Eric Atta-Sonno
The first time I heard his name, he was a High Court Judge being introduced at a dinner of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International. He was the Main Speaker for the evening and he had a great and touching testimony to share about his encounter with Jesus the Christ.Ever since that day, I got in love with Mr Justice Samuel Kofi Marful Sau. All the subsequent stories I heard about him were all positive ones which accentuated his deep Christian convictions. In joining the Church Triumphant, Justice Marful Sau has lived his life to the glory of God and has left an indelible mark on his career, the body of Christ and humanity. My prayer is that we of the Church Militant will continue to live as Ambassadors of the LORD in all that we do!
Gaspar Lyle Nii-Aponsah
When I sat at the feet of the venerable Kwame Gyan to learn land law at the then Faculty of Law, he told us in class one day of one of the emerging brightest stars on the Bench by name Justice Marful-Sau (although as per his self-confessed village roots, the great teacher seemed to be pronouncing “Marfo Siaw”). Since very rarely did Kwame Gyan bestow such high praise on Judges, I was intrigued by this bright star he had mentioned. So I went to my dad shortly thereafter to ask him if he knew of this Judge and what he thought of him. It happened that my dad himself, was at the time in what would become his final year of practice, and he was long past the stage where he was gun-shy with his opinions of Judges in particular. What followed was a conversation with my dad that left me in no doubt that he was fully appreciative of the learned Judge and a man who would soon become my own teacher when I progressed to the Ghana School of Law. It was clear – Justice Marful-Sau was surely admired and appreciated by even his seniors, and peers alike. As fate would have it, I too had the great privilege of learning at his feet, admiring, arguing with and learning from him, week after week.
To learn of his passing today is truly a dark day, and a very grim one for our Supreme Court. He was one of the most beloved Judges of the highest court of the land. Knowledgeable, straightforward and always affable. And with him, I realized early on that he was never easily annoyed or jittery by criticism. My civil procedure teacher whom I loved to accost with a plethora of questions, sometimes not so pleasant. He called me “mischievously inquisitive”. To draw his appreciation of his own moniker for me, the last time I appeared before him in court on a motion that I won, on a panel that he presided over, I requested the court to award “mischievously punitive costs” against the other party on account of the untoward shenanigans put up in court by their Counsel. My Lord could not stop his giggles. I recently ran into him at the funeral service of my great aunt, the mother of the former Chief Justice Wood. He told me that he had heard I was out there with a few of my colleagues in the woods swinging it early. I jokingly told him that since the seniors and their firms don’t pay well, we are forced to learn to fish by ourselves early, otherwise many of us will very well end up on the Bench whilst we were still green and be writing crazy decisions, just to make ends meet. He remarked that in that case we should stay in the woods and learn some more. We both burst into laughter. My Lord, thank you for everything that you taught us. Most of all, thank you for wearing the powers of your high offices so easily, remaining so approachable and friendly even to the end. If there is anything in your life that others wielding similar powerful offices should take from your life, I would say that this ought to be it – that they wear their powers so easily and never be quick to show anybody where power resides by the slightest level of criticism. God rest your soul, sir! You were a great blessing to your nation, to your generation and to the law. We are adjourned!
Kwabena Osei-Danquah
Yesterday, the sad unexpected news of the passing away of Supreme Court Justice Marful-Sau hit me hard. Such a heart wrenching year of losses, especially of friends. The memories of great conversations, laughter and smiles doing our National Service in 1984 in counterpart offices at the Osu Castle and our last conversation keep playing in a loop. We never managed to get together as planned. So much promise and greatness on the bench now dashed. Rest in Peace, my friend!
Nana Kwabena Anin-Yeboah
Learn and Pray”
My Lord, I am speechless. I am shaken.
When I was first informed of your demise, I refused to believe it. I informed my mother and her response was “NO! How!?!”
My Lord, as I write this, I am shaking like a leaf. I cannot believe that you are gone.
In my second to last interaction with you, you asked me how life was as a young lawyer and informed you jokingly that “It was a scam” and that the “money wasn’t coming”
As usual, you responded and told me that I should be patient, learn hard and all will be well”
I said Amen and I will. It seems as if with all my interactions with you, my response would be “Amen, I will”
From the number of times, you told me “Nana K, Yiri wo ho” to the times you told me to “read and pray” whenever I complained about a course I didn’t understand in law school, it is clear that you were guided by God.
Most of us young lawyers have been blessed to have had you teach us Civil Procedure. A tough course made easy by your book and your knowledge.
Who is going to use “Mr. White” and “Mr. Black” as examples in a case? Who is going to ask “What will you do for him and why?”
My Lord, we have lost a great person and my only consolation is that you are with the father in heaven and he is pleased to have you with him.
My condolences to the family of the late Justice Samuel Kofi Marful-Sau.
