The Majority Chief Whip, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has declared that the much-anticipated Legal Education Bill will break the Ghana School of Law’s long-standing monopoly over professional legal training.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, May 27, the legislator—himself a lawyer—called the move a necessary reform to “democratise legal education” and correct a “corrupted” system.
“We waged this war from about 2018,” the Member of Parliament for South Dayi said.
“Intake to the law school became acrimonious, contentious, and eventually corrupted. Corrupted because evidence emerged that even persons who didn’t write law school entrance exams got admitted.”
Citing findings from the General Legal Council’s own disciplinary committee, Mr Dafeamekpor alleged that at least 11 students were smuggled into the law school.
“My information is that they were over 33,” he added. “But to minimise the impact, they said 11. What became the fate of those 11 students? We are yet to know, but we shall uncover.”
According to him, the new bill will mandate that all accredited law faculties in the country be licensed not only to run academic LLB programmes, but also to train lawyers professionally.
“Let every faculty accredited to run the academic LLB programs be accredited or licensed to train their own lawyers,” he said.
Under the proposed system, bar examinations—administered twice annually by the General Legal Council—will be the single national qualifying test.
“We’ll have one in January and one in July. When you pass in January, you are called to the bar in March or April. If you pass in June, you’re called in September or October,” he explained.
“That way, we can have as many lawyers as we want.”
He argued that many faculties are already calling themselves law schools, but are unable to train lawyers due to regulatory bottlenecks.
“What becomes of a law school when you can’t train lawyers?” he asked. “So we want the faculties to be converted into law schools.”
Makola, the traditional Ghana School of Law in Accra, will become just another competitor under the new regime.
“It will no longer have the monopoly. It will admit its own students afresh, train them, and when they’re ready, they go and face the bar like everyone else.”
Mr Dafeamekpor stressed that not all those called to the bar need to be courtroom lawyers.
“That’s the erroneous impression in the minds of a lot of people,” he said. “There are more people with a law degree who are not in practice. They are in corporate law and others, and we need them.”
He added that many district assemblies and institutions across Ghana are in need of legally trained minds, not necessarily practising lawyers, who can guide critical processes and decisions.
“You need lawyers who may not even be practitioners, but who have the legal training, who have the legal mind to guide you.”
Pressed by host Evans Mensah on when the bill will be passed, Mr Dafeamekpor responded with certainty and urgency.
“Why not? I’m the Majority Chief Whip, and we are even minded to move this under a certificate of urgency. It is one of our major political promises, and we will deliver it.”
He also revealed that he would be publishing an article on the matter before the end of the week, which would further expose some of the issues that have plagued the current system of legal education.
“We are serious about this. We are going to break the bottlenecks. We are going to expand access. The Legal Education Bill is the way forward,” he said.
How does a Bill becomes law
The Constitution of Ghana under Article 93(2) vests legislative power to Parliament. Under Article 106 of the Constitution 1992, Parliament makes laws through “Bills” which for it to become law it must be assented by the President. Article 106(2) of the Constitution provides
No bill, other than such a bill as is referred to in paragraph (a) of article 108 of this Constitution, shall be introduced in Parliament unless-
(a) it is accompanied by an explanatory memorandum setting out in details the policy and principles of the bill, the defects of the existing law, the remedies proposed to deal with those defects and the necessity for its introduction; and
(b) it has been published in the Gazette at least fourteen days before the date of its introduction in Parliament.
After the bill has been drafted by the Minister, it must be laid in Parliament. Article 106(4) provides that the bill is first time read in Parliament and referred to the appropriate committee which shall examine the bill in detail and make inquiries as the committee considers necessary. The Bill will then be deliberated by the committee and the send a report to Parliament for it to be debated upon.
The assent of the bill by the president is required to gibe the Bill the status of law. Article 106(7) states;
Where a bill passed by Parliament is presented to the President for assent he shall signify, within seven days after the presentation, to the Speaker that he assents to the bill or that he refuses to assent to the bill, unless the bill has been referred by the President to the Council of State under article 90 of this Constitution
And in a situation where the President refuses to assent to the Bill, article 106 (8) provides;
Where the President refuses to assent to a bill, he shall, within fourteen days after the refusal
(a) state in a memorandum to the Speaker any specific provisions of the bill which in his opinion should be reconsidered by Parliament, including his recommendations for amendments if any; or
(b) inform the Speaker that he has referred the bill to the Council of State for consideration and comment under
article 90 of this Constitution
Parliament can override the President’s rejection of a bill by a resolution supported by at least two thirds of the members of Parliament. If such resolution is adopted article 106(10) of the Constitution mandates the President to assent to the Bill. This residual given to Parliament under article 106(10) enables Parliament to overrule the President initial refusal to assent to a Bill.
Source: MyJoyOnline
