Two National Democratic Congress (NDC) lawmakers have initiated a Private Members’ Bill to “exclude the Chief Justice as well as other Justices of the Supreme Court from the General Legal Council (GLC).”
The MPs – Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor (South Dayi Constituency) and Francis-Xavier Sosu (Madina Constituency) – in a memo to the Clerk to Parliament said the bill is aimed at redefining “the functions of the GLC and to provide for reforms in legal education such that accredited faculties of law with the requisite facilities would be licensed to run professional law courses, provide for discipline of lawyers and related matters to give effect to Article 37(1) of the 1992 Constitution.”
It would be recalled that some candidates who failed to secure admission into the Ghana School of Law sued the GLC for denying them admission although they obtained the 50% pass mark in the entrance examination.
Only 790 out of the 2,820 candidates who sat the 2021 entrance examination for admission into the Ghana School of Law were deemed to have passed, thus were admitted to the only professional legal training institution in Ghana.
The candidates who were denied admission contend that the pass mark for the examination has always been 50%.
But, unbeknownst to them, the rule was changed, with regard to the 2021 examination, to at least 50% in both sections.
Four hundred and ninety-nine (499) of the unsuccessful candidates therefore filed a suit against the GLC. In the suit, they are praying the court to compel the Ghana School of Law to offer them admission for the 2021/22 academic year.
The students claim in their writ that their fundamental human rights have been violated by the regulatory body.
Mr Dafeamekpor and Mr Francis-Xavier Sosu in their memo highlighted some problems in the GLC that the bill will seek to solve.
With regard to having judges on the Board of the GLC, the MPs stated that, “it creates an issue, especially in instances where the decision of General Legal Counsel are challenged in the Court of Appeal and the Judges have to review the decisions of their superiors.”
Hence, amending Section 15 to remove the Chief Justice from the Board of Legal Education and provide for definite term for the Board will ensure that all forms of the likelihood of bias are eliminated.
The MPs also called for the amendment of Section 8(1) of the Legal Professions Act to ensure the licence issued by the General Legal Council does not expire so far as the lawyer remains enrolled.
“Section 13 is amended to provide for Unified Bar Examination to be conducted by Board of Legal Education under the supervision of the General Legal Counsel and also provides for licensing of law faculties to run the Professional Course and to prepare students for the Unified Bar Examinations,” they added.
The MPs are also seeking an amendment to provide for a Disciplinary Committee by the Ghana Bar Association which shall be responsible to hear disciplinary matters in respect of all Lawyers in Ghana and enforce disciplinary standards.
Dissolve GLC
A private legal practitioner, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, has said the General Legal Council (GLC) must be scrapped because it has “outlived its usefulness” in regulating the legal profession and education in Ghana.
“We shouldn’t have our judges involved in administrative issues when it comes to issues of exams and admissions, it is not done. Our judges should be restricted to issues of judicial matters. If we want to regulate matters concerning the bar the GBA or anybody or party could be set up to do so.
“They are a creature of statute and if at the end of the day Parliament thinks that they’ve outlived their usefulness just like we amend or repeal laws, that law can be repealed and replaced by another body. We’re having too many problems with this particular body. The body has outlived its usefulness. After all they have only two functions – regulations of the legal profession and legal education,” Addo said on Asaase Radio’s news analysis and current affairs show The Forum.
Below is the MPs’ proposals for the bill:
