Among notable changes, the Subsidiary Legislation Committee recommended that the Ghana Legal Council should not be allowed to conduct interviews for entrants into the Ghana School of Law.

[contextly_sidebar id=”TcuydmAJrxbpiJW7PuVmQPEQEcGM2k29″]The Committee, however, said the entrance examinations for admission into the school would continue.

Despite the seeming compromise, the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, said he was still in opposition to the legislation.

He continued his opposition today [Friday] in Parliament and per Standing Order 113 of Parliament, a member has the right to challenge a vote and request for a head count or a division, which Mr. Muntaka wanted to do.

But he was left on his feet for about 20 minutes after being ignored by the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye.

Oquaye acting worse than Idi Amin, Mobutu

After proceedings, the Minority Chief Whip voiced his displeasure to the media by describing Prof. Oquaye as a dictator and comparing him to despots like Uganda’s Idi Amin and the DR Congo’s Mobutu Sese Seko.

“I keep repeating that civil society should be interested in how the Speaker is conducting himself. It is so terrible… We have rules. As for listening to us, you listen, make your ruling and if we want to challenge your ruling, we know what to do. But to deliberately and continuously do what he is doing, I think he is the biggest threat to our democracy.”

“The way he is behaving, I think that all of us need to be very concerned and very worried about the way the Speaker is conducting himself… I doubt whether even Mobutu or even Idi Ami can be behaving the way he did. It is so shameful that Speaker continues to do this and just disregard the rules of the House.”

Mr. Muntaka further maintained that more MPs were against the approval of the Legal Profession Regulations.

“I am super convinced that those for ‘No’ won and we wanted to confirm that beyond any reasonable doubt by having a headcount. If you have a head count, it puts the thing beyond doubt.”

Opposition to L.I. by law students

The Association of Law Students on January 29, 2018 petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to cause the withdrawal of the controversial Legal Profession Regulations 2017 from Parliament.

The Association wants the President to impress on Members of Parliament to vote against the regulation.

The General Legal Council laid the Regulations in Parliament in mid-December 2017, in response to a Supreme Court order for a clear admission procedure into the Ghana School of Law, and call to the Ghana Bar.

The proposed LI in question, among other things, states that the General Legal Council will conduct an entrance exam for the admission of students to the school, and conduct interviews for all applicants who pass the Ghana School of Law Entrance Examination.

The LI is expected to become Law this month, February, 2018.

But the law students maintain that if the document is passed in its current form, it will restrict access to legal education.

Law School SRC angry after over 80% fail exams

The Student’s Representative Council [SRC] of the Ghana School of Law, recently called for the school’s Independent Examinations Board to be scrapped, describing it as a threat to legal education in Ghana, after only 91 of the over 500 students passed the May exams in 2017.

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.

Almost 300 students are to repeat the entire course, whilst 170 students would have to be referred.

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

The post Parliament approves law school entrance exams appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Despite the Committee’s conclusions to allow the exams but reject the interviews, Mr. Mubarak said on Eyewitness News that “they have rules and I respect what they have done but I disagree with them.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”WgCcVdcBME9vBLwou2Fk4TPhULXzJspR”]After a meeting with the General Legal Council and the Attorney General’s office over the controversial Legal Profession Regulations 2017 LI, the Subsidiary Legislation Committee decided to also reject petitions for the scrapping of the entrance examinations for admission into the school.

The Committee has said that its decision to back the entrance exams, despite the opposition from law students and some observers is because the exams will be conducted within the remits of the law by the General Legal Council.

The Legal Professions Act 32 makes provision for preliminary, intermediate and final examinations.

But Mr. Muntaka argued that “it is not only when there are inconsistencies in law that Parliament decides to reject things.”

The MP made reference to Parliament’s decision to shelve the Plant Breeders Bill, which was met with some opposition from some stakeholders within the agriculture sector.

“We represent the people and  we need to listen to them at all times and because of that, Parliament had to suspend the proceedings on the Plant Breeders Bill not because there was anything wrong with it.”

Speaking to Citi News earlier, the Chairman of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, Mahama Ayariga, indicated that the General Legal Council has received some Cabinet backing for the Bill amending the legal professions Act, Act 32 to the satisfaction of critics.

He told Citi News that this was done to enable the Ghana School of Law process admissions for 2018.

“Those two Bills, when they come, will address the wider concerns of the public and the law school” Mr. Ayariga said.

But Mr. Muntanka responded to thi saying the committee was putting the cart before the horse by passing the LI, then later amending the Act.

“I am still optimistic of Parliament that the generality of members of Parliament will look at this issue as a serious concern that is being raised by the ordinary citizen of this country and we cannot just push it away because it is a real issue… I will strongly oppose it and I will continue to encourage members to oppose it.”

The LI was drawn up and laid in Parliament on December 22, 2017, in response to the Supreme Court order directing a parliamentary approved admission process into the Ghana School of Law and calls to the Bar.

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

The post I’ll not support law school entrance exams – Muntaka appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Professor Kwaku Asare is the Ghanaian US-based lawyer whose suit got the Supreme Court to cancel the use of examinations and interviews as requirements for law school admissions. It is based on that Supreme Court ruling, that the General Legal Council forwarded the current L.I to parliament, since the court ruled that the processes were illegal.

According to Kwaku Asare , despite expressing opposition to the idea of restricting the number of persons allowed to practice law in the country following her nomination as AG, and making similar statements following the confirmation of her appointment, Gloria Akuffo has not demonstrated it in her recent actions.

[contextly_sidebar id=”sInHCftoWwT8sC8HJQZDb71L8mUbvZVz”]He stated in a Facebook post on Sunday that the AG could cause the L.I which he described as “retrogressive” to be dropped permanently if she wanted to, as the legislation can only go through if approved by the responsible Minister.

“I am, therefore, dumbfounded that you have directed that the obnoxious and retrogressive LI, which failed for lack of gazetting, be relaid in Parliament. Relaid for what?,” Prof. Asare wrote.

“If you are against the LI, as can be inferred, by your public statements, you are under no obligation to try to make it law. Under the Legal Profession Act, an LI can only be made if you, as the minister, approve it. Thus, you have the power, under the law, and moral responsibility to kill the obnoxious LI.”

He also called for the minutes of the General Legal Council’s deliberations on the Regulations and other related issues to be made public in order to flush out the “retrogressive characters” from the GLC.

“This raises another important point — who on the GLC is imposing these retrogressive ideas? We demand that the votes recorded on these issues be made public. The unruly GLC is an administrative body and cannot operate like a secret society. We must smoke out these retrogressive characters from our institutions!”

The Attorney General called for the Legal Profession Regulations to be withdrawn from Parliament and re-laid because some processes governing such regulations were not adhered to, adding that the regulation was not gazetted on time.

“Your directive to the Ghana Publishing Company Limited to gazette the Regulation after the 22nd of December, 2017, does not meet the requirement of article 11(7) (b) of the 1992 Constitution. I kindly advise that the necessary arrangements are made to ensure that the Legal Profession (Professional and Post-Call Law Course) Regulation, 2017, are re-laid before Parliament in compliance with article 11 (7) of the 1992 constitution,” a letter from the Attorney General to the Parliamentary Committee on Subsidiary Legislation and sighted by citifmonline.com said.

Below is the full post by Professor Kwaku Asare 

Dear Attorney General Gloria Akuffo:

During your confirmation hearings, you spoke eloquently about the tyranny of the entrance tariffs imposed on qualified students by the unruly GLC.

At the launch of the 58th annual Law week, a few months ago, you called “for the restructuring of the current legal education system in the country in tandem with modern trends.”

To that end, you called for the establishment of other Faculties, aside from the campus at Makola in Accra, and the employment of more lecturers to enable the school to admit more LLB graduates. You also refuted the perception that standards and the quality of the law profession would be compromised if the system allowed for more people into the profession.

You concluded, “I do not share the view that we have too many lawyers. It is retrogressive thinking and the excuse that we want to cut down the numbers to maintain standards is not acceptable. In every profession, we have the quacks and so limiting the numbers is not the solution.”

I am, therefore, dumbfounded that you have directed that the obnoxious and retrogressive LI, which failed for lack of gazetting, be relaid in Parliament.

Relaid for what?

If you are against the LI, as can be inferred, by your public statements, you are under no obligation to try to make it law. Under the Legal Profession Act, an LI can only be made if you, as the minister, approve it. Thus, you have the power, under the law, and moral responsibility to kill the obnoxious LI.

This raises another important point — who on the GLC is imposing these retrogressive ideas? We demand that the votes recorded on these issues be made public. The unruly GLC is an administrative body and cannot operate like a secret society. We must smoke out these retrogressive characters from our institutions!

For the avoidance of doubt, legal education was never meant to and does not terminate with an award of LLB in Ghana. The unruly GLC must carefully study the Parent Act and its rich legislative history to appreciate, once and for all, that what the Act contemplates is a bifurcated model with a starting point at the Faculties and an exit point at the School of Law or other alternative institutions. The objective of legal education has always been to produce lawyers not to produce terminal LLB degree holders.

Thus, the LI that the unruly GLC is bent on laying in Parliament will be ultra vires the Parent Act and hence unlawful.

You have noted all the flaws in the current system as unconstitutionally and unethically applied by the unruly GLC.

Everything you are proposing is already provided in LI 1296 while the new LI that you are so strenuously trying to lay in Parliament seeks to legalize the very things that you say are flawed.

I am baffled! Why will you want to legalize a flawed system when the current system provides for everything you espouse?

You have the power to cure all the flaws that you have noted by merely saying the GLC should enforce the law of the land. It is not good enough to just talk a good talk. You must align your actions and your talk.

Madam, use that power now!

Da Yie!

‘Amend regulations before relaying them’

A number of other practitioners have expressed concerns about the L.I in its current form.

Speaking to Citi News, Kofi Bentil, who is the legal adviser to the Association of Law Students, a group that has called on Parliament to annul the regulation, welcomed the Attorney General’s call for the withdrawal of the LI, but urged that before it is re-laid, it should be amended to make legal education in the country more accessible.

“I wish the withdrawal was on substance. Be that as it may, there is a withdrawal. The AG said they should re-lay, what it suggests is that, they might want to go and correct the errors and try and bring it back. If they are going to bring it back, such a controversial L.I. and we are going to have to fight it all over again to have it removed, I think we all go through needless stress when the future is clear that we cannot limit professional law education to only logistical problems of the Ghana School of Law.”

“Best practice everywhere is that, they must expand and allow people who are qualified to take the professional law course. So we hope they do not re-lay it. We actually believe that in the process, there will be some discussions in the back, and I believe reasoning will prevail and that will prevent the relaying of this same L.I. But if it turns out that we cannot agree, the right place to go is the court,” he added.

Muntaka wants Regulations withdrawn

Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, last Thursday, also prayed Parliament to withdraw the Regulations.

According to him, the legislation, which has been in Parliament for over a month now, has not even been seen by some of the Members of Parliament as they have not received any copies.

What are these Regulations?.

The General Legal Council laid the Regulations in Parliament on December 22, 2017, in response to a Supreme Court order for a clear admission procedure into the Ghana School of Law, and call to the Ghana Bar.

The proposed L.I. in question, among other things, states that the General Legal Council will conduct an entrance exam for the admission of students to the school, and conduct interviews for all applicants who pass the Ghana School of Law Entrance Examination.

The LI was expected to become Law this month, February, 2018.

But the law students maintain that if the document is passed in its current form, it will restrict access to legal education.

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Prof. Asare slams AG over ‘retrogressive’ Law School admission L.I. appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This, according to the Attorney General, is because some processes governing such regulations were not adhered to, adding that the regulation was not gazetted on time, hence the advice.

[contextly_sidebar id=”vVkTEeUQJluw7blCODxoLUcjnVEBrzuM”]“Your directive to the Ghana Publishing Company Limited to gazette the Regulation after the 22nd of December, 2017 does not meet the requirement of article 11(7) (b) of the 1992 Constitution. I kindly advise that the necessary arrangements are made to ensure that the Legal Profession (Professional and Post-Call Law Course) Regulation, 2017 are re-laid before Parliament in compliance with article 11 (7) of the 1992 constitution,” a letter the Attorney General wrote to the Parliamentary Committee on Subsidiary Legislation and sighted by citifmonline.com stated.

Withdraw it now – Muntaka

Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, had on Thursday, prayed Parliament to withdraw the Legal Profession Regulations currently before Parliament.

According to him, the legislation, which has been in Parliament for over a month now, has not even been seen by some of the Members of Parliament as they have not received any copies.

Muntaka also alleged that, information available to him suggests the regulation has not been gazetted.

The Attorney General in the letter reminded Parliament of what article 11 (7) of the 1992 Constitution states pertaining to the laying of bills as captured below:

Any Order, Rule or Regulation made by a person or authority under a power conferred by this Constitution or any other law shall

(a) be laid before Parliament;

(b) be published in the Gazette on the day it is laid before Parliament; and

(c) come into force at the expiration of twenty-one sitting days after being so laid unless Parliament, before the expiration of the twenty-one days annuls the Order, Rule or Regulation by the votes of note less than two-thirds of all the members of Parliament.

Annul regulation now

Prior to that, a group calling itself, the Association of Law students had called on Parliament to annul the regulation.

The Association of Law Students on January 29, 2018, petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to cause the withdrawal of the controversial Legal Profession Regulations 2017 from Parliament.

The Association wants the President to impress on Members of Parliament to vote against the regulation.

The General Legal Council laid the Regulations in Parliament on December 22, 2017, in response to a Supreme Court order for a clear admission procedure into the Ghana School of Law, and call to the Ghana Bar.

The proposed L.I. in question, among other things, states that the General Legal Council will conduct an entrance exam for the admission of students to the school, and conduct interviews for all applicants who pass the Ghana School of Law Entrance Examination.

The LI is expected to become Law this month, February, 2018.

But the law students maintain that if the document is passed in its current form, it will restrict access to legal education.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Re-lay Law School admissions L.I. – AG advises Parliament appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.