The sad story of the 499 law students

1. Sat for faculty entrance exams and passed. (50% pass mark)

2. Shortlisted for an interview, passed and gained admission

3. Wrote an average of 34 exams to cover 34 and more subjects.

4. We spend on average Ghc 36,000 in 3years on fees i.e. Ghc12, 000 x 3 = ghc 36,000.

5. Books and Transport cost close to 18,000 for the 3 years.

6. Passed all and graduated?.

7. Sat for Ghana School of Law entrance exams with 50% aggregate as pass mark and passed.

8. General Legal Council changed the rules of the exam after releasing of results that, you need to obtain 50% of Section A and 50% of Section B of the same paper to be admitted.

9. Rule was only made known to students after the release of the results as an afterthought measure. Pass mark has always been 50% aggregate since inception of exams.

10. New rule resulted in 499 passed students being excluded from the admission list, most of whom have sat for the entrance exams more than 3 times.

11. I had 55% but was denied admission meanwhile a colleague had 50% and has been offered admission.

12. Students petitioned the President of Ghana, Speaker of Parliament, Chief Justice, General Legal Counsel, Chairman of Council of State, Asantehene, Chief Imam, Christian Council, and Attorney General to intervene to rectify this injustice and retrospective application of the rule which is against the Constitution and violates the human rights of the affected students. None of the above has responded more than a week after receiving their petitions.

13. Some of the affected students are going through emotional and psychological trauma with suicidal tendencies, lost interest in legal education, and shattered dreams yet the president and other influential people are mute over the matter.

14. Their security or health is in serious jeopardy as they intend to embark on a demonstration on Wednesday for an injustice that should never have happened or should have been resolved by the leaders. Police brutalities, casualties and loss of lives are possible outcomes of the intended demonstration yet nobody seems to care

16. The sad aspect of it is that membership of the General Legal Council includes the Chief Justice as the chairman, 3 other senior Justices of the Supreme Court, Attorney General, reps of Ghana Bar Association, and reps from law faculties. They are supposed to be the guardians of the legal profession, defenders of the constitution, human rights, and justice. Sadly, they are the perpetrators of this injustice.

17. The only offense of the affected students is that they are Ghanaians and citizens of a country that is beautiful outside and ugly within. A country with over 30m people with less than 4000 practicing lawyers and less than 70 lawyers in the 5/6 northern regions.

18. We are victims of leadership failure and may the world hear our story. This injustice must not be allowed to stand. #Admitthe499, #ADMITTHE499 NOW