A Sudden Opportunity
“Can you give lectures in Legislative Drafting in Uganda for one week on my behalf?”, asked the esteemed professor, Statute Law Revision Commissioner, and retired Justice of the Supreme Court in the corridor of our office. This was in April, 2013.
Although I had been lecturing Legislative Drafting on a part-time basis for about five years at the Ghana School of Law, I was in shock. How could I possibly fill his shoes? He had such a great reputation, and I felt rather inadequate.
Nevertheless, I was also immensely flattered and grateful for the vote of confidence. Thus, I accepted his offer, and to Uganda, I went. I was so nervous that I was reading throughout my flight in preparation for the lectures.
Lecturing Legislative Drafting in Kampala, Uganda
Hence, I taught Legislative Drafting for one week at the International Law Institute in Kampala. Legislative Drafting is the transformation of Government policy into law. Legislative drafters draft Bills which, when passed, become Acts of Parliament. They also draft Regulations, Rules, Gazette Notices, etc. They are mostly public servants who work closely with the Legislature.
My students were lawyers in various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies in their countries. They were from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. Although they were not primarily legislative drafters, they all needed this short course in Legislative Drafting to assist them in preparing drafting instructions to legislative drafters in their respective countries. The training would also enable them to better appreciate what law-making entailed.
Apart from a few initial challenges of the East African students having some difficulty in understanding my predominantly West African accent of English, we were good to go. Some of them were amazed at all the thinking required to draft a legislative sentence. After the short course, they had all learnt the rudiments of Legislative Drafting and had become very analytical and meticulous. Here is a card that they presented to me at the end of the course.
I was very happy to have imparted some knowledge to lawyers of different specializations from other countries. I was also glad to have risen to the occasion.
There was not much time for sightseeing or adventure. I, however, managed to meet up with some colleague legislative drafters from Uganda. Here is a picture of us with their Head of Division. He graciously invited us for dinner at his home.
Lessons Learnt
This experience taught me a few things about taking advantage of sudden opportunities.
1. You must have prepared for it in advance by having some prior skill or experience. I was offered the opportunity because the professor knew of my part-time lecturing. He wouldn’t have offered me the opportunity if I had never lectured before. As Abraham Lincoln said, “I will study and prepare myself, and someday, my chance will come.”
2. You must be self-confident and convince yourself that you have what it takes. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. They say that most of our battles are fought in our minds. The famous heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, had a lot of self-belief and drive. He said, “If my mind can conceive it, if my heart can believe it — then I can achieve it.”
3. You must not make excuses or procrastinate. They say that opportunity comes but once. To date, I have not had another opportunity to lecture outside my country. I thank God that I did not refuse that offer.
4. You must give it your best shot. They say that whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
May we be well-positioned to take advantage of whatever sudden opportunities that come our way!
Do you have any similar experiences of taking advantage of sudden opportunities? Kindly provide your comments by clicking on the chat icon beneath the heading.
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