Parliament’s directive for admission of 499 LLB graduates symbolic, spot on - Kwaku Azar

Accounting professor and private legal practitioner, lawyer Kwaku Asare aka Kwaku Azar, has commended Parliament for the resolution reached in directing the General Legal Council to admit some 499 LLB graduates who were denied entry into the Ghana School Law despite scoring 50% as required by the school for the admission of new students.

The outspoken lawyer described the resolution as an important step in a symbolic political value.

In a statement, he said: “Given the Council’s history of vindictiveness and pettiness, I have my doubts that the solution to the 499 crisis is to deliver the 499 candidates to the School.

"We know space is a problem. The School could not start on time for the 790 candidates who were admitted.

The candidates are being crammed into poorly ventilated rooms and forced to endure a 12 hour lecture day twice a week.”

Parliament has directed the General Legal Council to admit the 499 students denied admission into the Ghana School of Law despite making the 50 percent required mark.

The resolution was reached after a debate in the House on Friday October 29, 2021.

The resolution was directed at the Minister of Justice and Attorney General and the General Legal Council.

The motion was filed by the Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin.

“The General Legal Council is hereby directed to proceed and admit all the students who passed in accordance with the advertised rules of the examination,” the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu said after the debate.

Read Prof. Kwaku Azar’s statement below:

The bipartisan repudiation of the moribund GLC, following its unlawful and unethical manipulation of the passing threshold, is an important step.

Nobody should underestimate the political and symbolic value of such a public opprobrium and lashing.

Following on the heels of the Council’s woes at the Supreme Court in 2017 and the High Court in 2019, the repudiation leads to the inescapable conclusion that it has outlived its usefulness.

Given the Council’s history of vindictiveness and pettiness, I have my doubts that the solution to the 499 crisis is to deliver the 499 candidates to the School.

We know space is a problem. The School could not start on time for the 790 candidates who were admitted.

The candidates are being crammed into poorly ventilated rooms and forced to endure a 12 hour lecture day twice a week.

That is not an acceptable learning environment and experience. Adding 499 candidates will only worsen the experience.

Besides next year, the Council will find a way to say only 128 “passed” the “entrance examination” just to streamline the numbers.

And then there are over 2,000 LLB graduates who have mastered the common and statutory law and only need an opportunity to take the licensing examination.

They too are Ghanafuo and somebody must speak for them. They deserve an opportunity to study for the qualifying examination, at institutions of their choice or by private studies.

That calls for an amendment of Section 3 of the Legal Profession Act as noted below using a certificate of extraordinary urgency.

Section 3 Qualifications for Enrolment

(1) A person qualifies to be admitted and enrolled as a legal practitioner, if that
person —
(a) is of good character;
(b) has satisfied all the requirements for the LLB degree obtained at any accredited university in the Republic; or
(c) is qualified to practise law in any country having a sufficiently analogous system of law; and
(d) has passed a bar examination or assessment as may be determined by the regulations.

We must solve this easy problem permanently and stop revisiting it annually.

#SALL is the cardinal sin of the 8th Parliament.

Da Yie!