Two MPs table bill to remove Chief Justice and others from GLC

Issues regarding legal education in Ghana has necessitated a move by Member of Parliament South Dayi Rockson Dafeamekpor and Francis-Xavier Sosu, to file a private members bill that seeks to amend the Legal Professions Act 1960, Act 32 which will, in turn, limit the powers of the General Legal Council.

The bill when passed will limit the powers of the General Legal Council and exclude the Chief Justice and other Justices of the Supreme Court from the General Legal Council in essence, redefining the functions of the GLC.

This amendment seeks to provide some reforms in legal education which have been riddled with admission controversies for years. The proposed bill will allow accredited Faculties of Law with the requisite facilities to get the license to provide professional law courses and provide discipline for lawyers and related matters to give effect to article 37(1) of the 1992 constitution.

Some Ghanaians have reacted to the bold step the legislators have taken to limit the powers of the General Legal Council.

In relation to the law school admission brouhaha, the Attorney General and Minister for Justice Godfred Yeboah Dame has explained to Parliament in a letter that Parliament cannot order the General Legal Council to admit the 499 students.

“While 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 power through the use of Parliamentary resolution, 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,” he stated in a letter to the legislative body.

The lawmaking house gave the directive on October 29, 2021, in support of a motion filed by Majority Chief Whip Alexander Afenyo-Markin to compel GLC to admit all the students following the protest by the National Association of Law Students and a petition to Parliament over the denial of the 499 students admission into the Ghana School of Law.

According to the GLC, the students were expected to score at least 50% of the total marks in both sections A and B.

It was unfortunate that this rule was not revealed to the students prior to the exams hence the authorities in charge were criticized.

Attorney General further explained that it is the executive that has the power to issue such directive and not the legislature.

By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh

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