The description ‘Minister who studied after cabinet’ is apt and not far-fetched for Hon. Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, the current Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, as only a few ministers are able to achieve the feat of juggling between fighting hardened environmental criminals and pursuing legal studies.

On Friday, October 9, 2026, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah heaved a deep sigh of relief as he was among 1,568 new lawyers called to the Ghana Bar as Barristers and Solicitors of the Supreme Court of Ghana.

For Buah, it was not a vanity degree. It was a dream deferred for decades.

Armah Buah is no ordinary student. As Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and Member of Parliament for Ellembelle, he oversees one of Ghana’s most combustible portfolios: land administration, mining, and forestry, areas largely governed by statutes and regulations.

In the same year he was pushing a new mining law, with drafting already 90% complete, and inaugurating a 20-member Greater Accra Public Lands Protection Taskforce to protect public lands, he was also preparing for his final Bar examinations.

This feat has drawn commendation across his ministry and among party members, including residents of his constituency, who praised him for pursuing legal studies alongside his duties as both a Cabinet Minister and MP.

Speaking at a ceremony at Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel to celebrate the achievement with friends and family members, the newest lawyer admitted he had pursued the ambition of becoming a lawyer decades ago, although life had taken him in other directions.

He said juggling official duties and law studies was not an easy task, stressing that determination and God did the magic.

Hon. Armah Buah expressed gratitude to his family and friends, including his senior brother, Frank Buah, founder of Maaha Beach Resort and Maaha Group of Companies, whom he described as a backbone to his success.

Zamabaga Rufai Saminu, a close ally of Hon. Armah Buah and Communications Director of the Lands Ministry, described how his boss handled early mornings with case briefs, late nights after parliamentary debates, and weekends spent attending tutorials.

He said the ministry’s work never stopped, as the Minister remained engaged in mid-year reviews, press briefings on more than 7,000 public land applications, reforms to lease processes, and a sweeping retreat agenda to sanitise land administration and restore degraded rivers.

“Legal training, in fact, may make him [Hon. Armah Buah] a more effective Lands Minister. Land is law. Mining is law. Every allocation letter, every concession, every forest reserve boundary is ultimately a legal question. Having a minister who can read the statute as a lawyer, not just as a politician, changes the conversation”, Mr. Zambaga emphasised.

Beyond public office, Armah-Kofi Buah’s journey through law and leadership has been phenomenal and could serve as a role model for many in similar positions and for the youth.

At 50-plus, with a ministerial convoy waiting outside, he chose to sit again in a classroom.

It sends a quiet message to young public servants that duty and development are not mutually exclusive. You can serve the state by day and still serve your own growth at night.

The wig and gown now hang beside the ministerial suit. Both, in their own way, are about justice: one over land, the other under law.