Some students were admitted into the Law School this year without writing the entrance exam – Muntaka Mubarak
Muntaka Mubarak, the Member of Parliament for Asawase has made claims that certain students were accepted to the Ghana Law School this year without sitting for the entrance exams. An act he described as ‘concessional’.
In an exclusive interview with TV3’s Evelyn Tengmaa on Wednesday, November 10, the Minority Chief whip accused Minister of Justice and Attorney General Godfred Dame of repressing the vulnerable rather than fighting for them in the law school admissions process.
“As an Attorney General, his responsibility is to protect the weakest. You hear him make such statements as, it is not a right, it is a privilege. Well, privilege for the few? For people like him? So, we are putting a motion that, in that same year admission, this 2021, there were people who didn’t even write the exams but they have been given concessional admission because they are the privileged few.
“That cannot be right, we can’t create society like that. His posture is giving me an impression that in his view, he thinks seeking justice may not be a right, it will be a privilege and that is seen in the Opuni matter even at the Supreme Court, re-empaneling, going for a review, meeting a judge who is supposed to sit on a panel. Attorney General, that often is supposed to be the one that protects the weakest in our society, not to intimidate the innocent ones.
“I think that the way he is carrying himself if we are not careful to put a brake on him he may end up being one of the worst Attorney Generals we have because he seems to be too political and he forgets the mandate of government.”
His remarks come as his party in Parliament has presented a memorandum to the Speaker of Parliament demanding a vote of censure against Godfred Yeboah Dame for failing to implement a Parliamentary resolution to admit 499 law school students.
“That this Honourable House passes a vote of censure on the Honourable Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, in respect of the following conduct: Refusal, without justifiable basis, to implement the resolution of this Honorable House unanimously passed on October 29, that the General Legal Council admits into the Ghana School of Law 499 students who sat for and passed the entrance examination of the Ghana School of Law for the 2021/22 legal year In accordance with its own published grounds rules, Impugning the image and integrity of this Honorable House through statements unbecoming of the holder of the office of Attorney General and Minister of Justice of this Republic”The memorandum reads.
The move was prompted by Mr Dame’s alleged refusal to follow through on a resolution they[Parliament] passed to admit law students who received a 50% pass mark in the admission examinations to the law school.
Mr. Dame informed Parliament that the resolution they had passed was not legally binding, adding that Parliament lacks the authority to manage the admissions process to the Ghana School of Law through the use of Parliamentary resolutions.
It will be recalled that on Friday, October 29, the House decided that all the 499 LLB candidates who received a 50% pass mark in the law school admission exams should be admitted by the school. The decision was reached unanimously in Parliament by voice voting.
But the AG in his reply said “Respectfully, I am aware of a resolution passed by Parliament at its sitting on Friday, 29th October, 2021 in these terms: … The General Legal Council is hereby directed to proceed and admit all the students who passed in accordance with the advertised rules of the examinations.. The Attorney-General is the leader of the bar in Ghana and he must see to it that the directive that 499 students who scored 50 marks are admitted is complied with.
“We do not want to get into contempt of Parliament issues. Whilst recognising the general legislative powers of Parliament in Ghana, except as have been circumscribed by the Constitution, I am constrained to advise that Parliament is devoid of a power through the use of Parliamentary resolutions, to control the process of admission into the Ghana School of Law.
“The mode of exercising legislative power enshrined in article 106 of the Constitution does not admit of resolutions.
“In accordance with section 13(1)(e) and (f) of the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (Act 32), the power to regulate admission of students to pursue courses of instruction leading to qualification as lawyers and to hold examinations which may include preliminary, intermediate and final examinations has been vested in the General Legal Council.
“It is correct that section 1(5) of Act 32 stipulates thus: “The Council shall in the performance of their functions comply with any general directions given by the Minister”.
“In my respectful opinion, this provision underscores the capacity of the Executive not the Legislature, through the Minister responsible for the General Legal Council, i.e. the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, to direct and advise the Council on major matters of national importance.
“In this regard, it is pertinent to indicate that by a letter dated 18th October, 2021 received at my office on 21* October, 2021, His Excellency the President forwarded the contents of a petition by the “499 candidates” to me for my comments in order to enable him respond. Another petition dated 20th October, 2021 by the National Association of Law Students was also delivered to the President.
“Upon delivery of my comments on the matters raised in both petitions and following further consultations with my good self, by a letter dated 26th October, 2021 (three clear days before the resolution of Parliament), received at my office on 27th October, 2021, the President directed me to, pursuant to section 1(5) of Act 32, … make the necessary intervention to the General Legal Council, on behalf of the 499 students, to address the issue …
“Within the constraints of the law, I am following up on the directive of the President to make the necessary interventions on behalf of the ‘499 students’ Be that as it may, it is imperative to correct a few erroneous impressions contained in the impugned Parliamentary resolution of 29th October, 2021.The notice in the Daily Graphic of 14th May, 2021 inviting applications from suitably qualified Ghanaians for admission into the Ghana School of Law did not state a pass mark of fifty percent (50%) or any at all as a basis for admission. The notice stated that applicants may be granted admission if they have passed the entrance examination conducted by the GLC.
“The notice also did not state the manner in which a pass mark set by the GLC would be determined. It is clear therefore, that, a contention that the “originally announced” or “advertised” pass mark was “50%”, is erroneous and insupportable.
Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group
