After a meeting on Tuesday with the General Legal Council and Attorney General’s office to consider the Legal Profession Regulations 2017 LI, Mr. Ayariga revealed that the Council said it had Bill to allow for the establishment of other law schools, in addition to other amendments to the Legal Professions Act.

“The General Legal Council said that they also had a Bill to establish the law school and to make provision for them to license and accredit the establishment of other law schools,” the MP said on Eyewitness News.

He was speaking after the Subsidiary Legislation Committee decided to reject petitions from law students and adopt parts of the Legal Profession Regulations 2017 LI which allow for the conduct of entrance examinations for admission into the school.

But the committee will recommend that the Ghana Legal Council not be allowed to conduct interviews for entrants into the Ghana School of Law as had been the case before the Supreme Court declared it illegal.

Mr. Ayariga, however, admitted that deeper issue lay unresolved but he indicated that the General Legal Council has received some Cabinet backing for a Bill amending the Legal Professions Act, Act 32 to address some of the concerns.

“So we think that the other wider issues would be addressed in this substantive legislation that will come to us. The immediate issue is to deal with the Supreme Court issue to pass the amendment so that you can conduct exams and have admissions for 2018.”

Possible reform

The Ghana Law School has been criticized for its formal structure which some have described as restrictive.

The Ghana School of Law is the only institution authorized to provide the professional legal training and it serves over 1o schools providing LLB degrees.

The current training regime limits the intake into the Ghana Law School to under 500 of the about-2000 LLB graduates annually.

In 2017, critics of the current system called for the school to be scrapped, with IMANI Africa’s Vice President, Kofi Bentil, suggesting the Ghana Law School be turned into an examination body.

The Member of Parliament for North Dayi, Jocelyn Tetteh, joined calls for the decentralization of the training of lawyers in Ghana, arguing that reforms would liberalize the training of lawyers and ease the pressure on the Ghana Law School.

But the Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, downplayed such calls for the Ghana Law School to be scrapped saying the school provided much more than theoretical training.

During her vetting in June 2017, she maintained that “when you want to be called a lawyer, a professional, then you come to the professional school, like in architecture, you do the theory and then there are the practicals. Same with medicine, you do the classroom work and then you get to the clinicals.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Her comments follow a 30-day ultimatum issued to the Independent Examination Board (IEB) by the SRC of the Ghana School of Law to re-mark the scripts of students who failed the exams.

[contextly_sidebar id=”06asiWNR2uappFN5LCt3CYCNxNPbteHu”]Only 91 out of the 474 students who sat the bar exams written in May and September last year passed.

The students have since been protesting the results and have planned to petition the Chief Justice.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana, Gloria Akuffo said an investigation would help unravel the true cause of the mass failure.

“Let us investigate what is the real cause of this large numbers. Is it because lecturers are not good enough? Is it because they do not have good material? Is it because the students themselves are not applying themselves efficiently and begin to find solutions to these.”

‘Parliamentary inquiry’

Her suggestion comes a day after a lawyer, Kwaku Asare, also called on Parliament to investigate the mass failure.

Mr. Asare also made a number of calls including asking Parliament to summon the Director of the Ghana School of Law to explain why they “unlawfully denied access to about 3,000 students who under the laws of Ghana are qualified to have professional legal education.”

The lawyer also called for the setting up of a committee of legal examiners by Parliament to “review the examination, the marking scheme and the exams scripts to find out what has gone terribly wrong with these examinations.”

The massive failure comes at a time when Parliament is debating an LI brought before it by the General Legal Council (GLC); the body that oversees the legal profession and legal education in Ghana.

The LI, if endorsed by Parliament, will see the legalization of entrance examination and interview processes by the GLC for prospective law students.

‘Re-mark exam scrips, scrap exam board’

In the wake of this development, the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana School of Law, has also called for the examination scripts of the Ghana Law School students to be re-marked.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the President of the school’s SRC, Sammy Gyamfi, said the results did not accurately reflect the performance of the students who sat for the exams.

He stated that in order to ensure the integrity of the exams and the results which were released, the scripts have to be re-marked by “a credible and independent body.”

“Clearly this is a sad day for professional legal education for Ghana. The published results are very dispiriting and discouraging, very disappointing and clearly unacceptable. The results as we have now don’t reflect the true performance of the students. We can’t vouch for the integrity of these results, the integrity of the results is questionable,” he said.

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By: Marian Ansah & Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Parliament and the General Legal Council will be among the recipients of the petitions according to an SRC Vice-President, Lenin Anane Adjei.

[contextly_sidebar id=”HIXZMuYyXF2GckBhpJvxCvdZ216e3YtR”]”[Today] we are going to submit petitions to the General Legal Council, we will submit petitions to the Parliamentary Commission on Subsidiary Legislation and also petition the independent examination board in order to gain access to the marking scheme,” he said on Eyewitness News.

“…and also we’ll submit a petition for students who demand their scripts to be allowed to see their scripts since past experience with the IEB [Independent Examination Board] have shown that in situations where they have made such scripts available there were some errors in the tallying of marks,” Mr. Adjei added.

These petitions will follow reports that only 91 out of over 500 students passed in all 10 courses from the exams taken in May 2017.

The students have since also questioned the credibility of the school’s Independent Examination Board (IEB).

Unreasonable re-mark fee

Mr. Adjei also expressed displeasure with the GHc 3,000 fee one has to pay for remarking.

He insisted that it was not in the best interest of legal education in the country to charge 3,000 cedis for remarking.

“We are saying that the GHc 3000 per script is a figure that is on the high side and students can simply not afford it; and so there should be a reduction in that price… we think that it is unconscionable to demand GHc 3000 per script in order to grant a remark.”

“It is in excess; telling us we cannot come for remarking at all because how many people living in the country see GHc 3,000 at the end of the year,” he asserted.

Call for independent re-marking

At a press conference on Wednesday, the students demanded that General Legal Council allow independent examiners to mark the law student’s papers.

“That re-marking, ideally, should be done within thirty days,” Mr. Adjei, told Citi News.

Though no ultimatum has been given the General Legal Council, Lenin Anane Adjei said it was imperative that the students’ examination papers were given a second eye.

“If they decided to re-mark and it is going beyond the thirty days, we do not have a problem, but the bottom line is that the General Legal Council should intervene and bring in independent examiners or give our scripts to people who are not part of the IEB.”

He noted that there will be a call to the bar in October 2018 so the student’s concerns must be addressed before then.

“…The call in October demands that between now and somewhere in June or July, students should be able to have all these things remedied so that those who after going through the system would qualify, are called to the bar.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Bentil said the exam failures were “the culmination of many years of indolence and abstinence,” from the General Legal Council.

[contextly_sidebar id=”35pyZszFsTHgRe5z0PlqztaOrOuBDJKn”]The Student’s Representative Council [SRC] of the school, noted that only 91 of over 500 students passed in all 10 courses from exams taken in May 2017, and subsequently called for the school’s Independent Examinations Board to be scrapped.

The SRC has also called for the remarking of the papers.

The General Legal Council was set up in 1960 to consolidate and amend the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (Act 32) relating to the Legal Profession in Ghana.

The scope of the Legal Profession Act includes organisation of legal education and upholding standards of professional conduct and discipline.

‘Stubborn legal council’

Mr. Bentil asserted that the General Legal Council has refused to take advise from anybody and “have ignored advise over the years.”

“Now you have a problem where instead of following what the law itself says in section 13 of Act 32, that they must use other educational institutions when the law school is inadequate and the provision is in the constitution to make this kind of facility available everywhere, but they just ignored all those things.”

“If they have decided that they will not take good advice, it must mean that they have a better option. But consistently, these people who run legal education have gone from bad to worse and we are in this situation where they are claiming that people who have had at least two years of LLB education cannot pass law school.”

Fight over Legal Profession Regulations

These calls come in the midst of the tensions between students and the Ghana Legal Council over the Legal Profession Regulations Legislative Instrument before Parliament.

A group calling itself the Concerned Law Students, has threatened to seek redress at the Supreme Court if Parliament fails to withdraw the controversial Legal Profession Regulations.

The Association of Law Students has also petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo over the matter.

The regulation, which will determine qualifications procedure into the Ghana School of Law, has been met with fierce resistance from the law students.

The students have described the LI as a deliberate attempt by the council to frustrate them in violation of their rights.

But the General Legal Council, which oversees legal education in Ghana, has argued that the exams and interviews are to ensure higher standards in legal education.

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By: Eugenia Tenkorang & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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[contextly_sidebar id=”KBj7o1xKuchNX58bBXMCRwsE86rY5N8C”]Results from the bar qualifying exam, released on Tuesday, showed that more than 80% of students who wrote the examination in May 2017 failed.

Professor Asare told  Citi News that the General Legal Council must be reconstituted and the system overhauled.

“We cannot have a regulator that does not follow its own laws, does not heed to Supreme Court warnings and consistently fails students so I am calling on Parliament to summon the Director of the School of law and the Chairman of the General Legal Council to explain why they continue to use the independent examination board – a board that the Supreme Court has said is alien to our legal system.”

Prof. Asare also made a number of calls including asking Parliament to summon the Director of the Ghana School of Law to explain why they “unlawfully denied access to about 3,000 students who under the laws of Ghana are qualified to have professional legal education.”

He demanded an explanation from the School as to why most of the students failed their final exams.

The lawyer also called for the setting up of a committee of legal examiners by Parliament to “review the examination, the marking scheme and the exams scripts to find out what has gone terribly wrong with these examinations.”

The massive failure comes at a time when Parliament is debating an LI brought before it by the General Legal Council (GLC); the body that oversees the legal profession and legal education in Ghana.

The LI, if endorsed by Parliament will see the legalization of entrance examination and interview processes by the GLC for prospective law students.

Re-mark exam scrips, scrap exam board

In the wake of this development, the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana School of Law, has also called for the examination scripts of the Ghana Law School students to be re-marked.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the President of the school’s SRC, Sammy Gyamfi, said the results did not accurately reflect the performance of the students who sat for the exams.

He stated that in order to ensure the integrity of the exams and the results which were released, the scripts have to be re-marked by “a credible and independent body.”

“Clearly this is a sad day for professional legal education for Ghana. The published results are very dispiriting and discouraging, very disappointing and clearly unacceptable. The results as we have now don’t reflect the true performance of the students. We can’t vouch for the integrity of these results, the integrity of the results is questionable,” he said.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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Protocol dictates that these students re-sit the exams, but the SRC has demanded that the results are scrapped, to allow the students to proceed with their six-month internship in March.

[contextly_sidebar id=”6wtsdpxYSDgox66DStdMIJyhyRwn8XHw”]”Tentatively, the statistics we have point to the fact that out of the over 500 students who sat for the exams, only 91 students passed in all 10 courses,” the school’s SRC President, Samuel Gyamfi told Citi News.

He added that almost 300 students are to repeat the entire course, whilst 170 students would have to be referred.

Describing the failures as “unprecedented”, Mr. Gyamfi said the demands of the Council were in service of future student batches.

“We are making this point not because we have failed. Some of us have passed. Some executives have passed. But we are doing this for posterity, for those who will come after us so that the systems are improved and corrected, and sad occurrences like this averted.”

“…in the medium term, we are of the opinion that the IEB system should be scrapped, and we are of the opinion that all students should be allowed to commence the mandatory six months internship programme from March 1 because that is the only appropriate thing to do under the circumstances.”

Lectures must set their own questions

Mr. Gyamfi further advised the school to revert to the previous system of examining students, where lecturers assessed their own students.

“Now the lecturers who teach students will set questions and mark because we have the best lecturers in Ghana, with regards to the law and the kind of courses they teach. There is no reason why lecturers should not be the once assessing the students they teach.”

“Sometimes if the person marking is the one who taught the students, it becomes really difficult evaluating the answer the student has provided in his answer booklet correctly. So it is important that they are mindful and take into consideration all these things and revert to the old system. All the best lawyers we have in the country today: Martin Amidu, Ace Ankomah, Thaddeus Sory are products of the old system,” he said.

Fight over admissions

These calls come in the midst of the tensions between students and the Ghana Legal Council over the Legal Profession Regulations LI before Parliament.

A group calling itself the Concerned Law Students, has threatened to seek redress at the Supreme Court if Parliament fails to withdraw the controversial Legal Profession Regulation.

The Association of Law Students has also petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo over the matter.

The regulation, which will determine qualifications procedure into the Ghana School of Law, has been met with fierce resistance from the law students.

The students have described the LI as a deliberate attempt by the council to frustrate them in violation of their rights.

But the General Legal Council, which oversees legal education in Ghana, has argued that the exams and interviews are to ensure higher standards in legal education.

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By: Marie-Franz Fordjoe & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This is a part of a scholarship programme that is being run by the community to promote Ghana’s development agenda through investments in the nation’s human resource base.

At a ceremony to present the scholarships, the Lebanese Ambassador to Ghana, H.E Ali Halabi, stressed the vital role of the Ghana School of Law in ensuring the realization of the rule of law, stating that, “the provision of quality legal education and the attainment of this favourable rule of law in society, are not mutually exclusive. It is therefore important to train visionary lawyers who would be key actors in achieving this societal growth.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”Sim7pJBCEEQBuBh8USutyzhcldSghsC7″]A representative of the beneficiaries, Afia Poku, thanked the Lebanese community for their benevolence, noting that, through this award, they have “showcased their adherence to upholding the rule of law in Ghana as they have recognized that, the law is the fiber that holds our society together and heals societal rifts.”

Professor Kofi Quashigah, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana, commended the Lebanese community in Ghana for investing in Ghana’s rule of law through the scheme.

He reflected on the Lebanese community’s assistance to the faculty for the past five years, which included a scholarship to undergraduate students pursuing LLB.

The Scholarship

For five years, the Lebanese community in Ghana has had in place a scholarship scheme for undergraduate law students from the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and Communications students from the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

Postgraduate students from the Ghana Institute of Journalism and the Ghana School of Law have also benefited from this scheme.

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By: Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post 8 law students in Ghana get scholarship from Lebanese community appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The community is also supporting four others who are undertaking the Masters’ Programme at the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

This is in addition to a scheme that supports some students who are pursuing their degree programmes at the Ghana Institute of Journalism and the Law Schools at the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

Speaking at the ceremony to present the scholarship award to the 15 Ghana School of Law students, the Lebanese ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Ali Halabi, said that the community made this move because of how important rule of law is to the Ghanaian society.

“The need for the continuity of a favourable state of law in Ghana is at the heart of the Lebanese Community. I have realised that legal education and the attainment of this favourable rule of law system are not mutually exclusive,” he said.

“This is going to be a new scholarship scheme that will include providing support to selected students undergoing the professional training at the Ghana School of Law and those undertaking the Masters’ Programme at the Ghana Institute of Journalism.”

The Dean for the Faculty of Law at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology also noted, “Every nation needs lawyers to craft laws to ensure stability and fight against the threat of terrorism. A solid legal environment will attract investors. Scholarship will help students acquire quality education to contribute to the legal and facilitate development.”

The Lebanese Community in Ghana started the scholarship scheme in 2013 when it awarded scholarships to 7 communication students in the Ghana Institute of Journalism and 15 law students from KNUST and the University of Ghana.

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By: Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Lebanese Community awards 15 law students with scholarships appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Spanish club have made a surprise move for the 25-year-old England international who has also been the subject of bids from Aston Villa and Hull City.

United manager Louis van Gaal may be prepared to listen to offers for Cleverley, who has just 12 months left on his contract, as he looks to shake things up at Old Trafford following a poor start to the season.

United suffered Capital One Cup embarrassment at the hands of League One side MK Dons and have only taken one point from a possible six in the Premier League so far this season.

Van Gaal has already allowed Wilfried Zaha to rejoin Crystal Palace on a season-long loan deal and striker Danny Welbeck is also been linked with a move away from Old Trafford, with a number of Premier League teams interested.

Javier Hernandez is reported to be wanted by Juventus while Shinji Kagawa is attracting interest from a number of European clubs.

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Source: Sky Sports

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Colombian striker Radamel Falcao scored the only goal of the game, converting a free header from the edge of the six-yard box just before half-time.

The Gunners, who miss out on winning their home tournament for the first time in four years, felt they should have been awarded a late penalty.

Summer signings Alexis Sanchez, Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers made their first starts for Arsenal.

Having won 5-1 against Benfica in their first match, Arsenal struggled against the Ligue 1 outfit and created little in the way of clear-cut chances, with Sanchez rarely on the ball.

Falcao, starting a game for the first time since a serious knee injury in January, opened the scoring on 37 minutes.

Arsenal substitute Chuba Akpom was brought down by visiting goalkeeper Danijel Subasic as he burst into the box, only for referee Martin Atkinson to award a free-kick rather than a penalty – despite replays showing the foul was clearly inside the area.

Spanish side Valencia won the tournament after coming from behind to beat Portugal’s Benfica 3-1 in Sunday’s early kick-off.

Arsenal: Szczesny, Debuchy, Chambers, Koscielny, Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Sanchez, Giroud Subs: Martinez, Miquel, Hayden, Bellerin, Coquelin, Flamini, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Zelalem, Akpom.

Monaco: Subasic, Dirar, Carvalho, Raggi, Echiejile, Bakayoko, Kondogbia, Carrasco, Joao Moutinho, Ocampos, Falcao. Subs: Caillard, Fabinho, Abdennour, Berbatov, Germain, Isimat Mirin, Martial, Toulalan, Bahamboula, Diallo.

Valencia players celebrate after winning the Emirates Cup

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Source: BBC Sport

 

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