Majority Chief Whip and South Dayi MP, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, says Ghana is on the verge of a legal education revolution.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, May 27, the legislator, who is also a lawyer, detailed bold provisions in a new Legal Education Bill to be put before Parliament.
He said the bill seeks to decentralise and democratise the training of lawyers and break what he described as the “corruption” and “monopoly” of the current system.
“We waged this war from about 2018,” he said. “When intake to the law school became acrimonious, contentious, and eventually corrupted.”
He alleged that people were admitted into the Ghana School of Law without sitting for the entrance exams, describing the situation as scandalous.
“Evidence emerged that even persons who didn’t write Law School entrance exams got admitted. I am not the one speaking. It was their own General Legal Council’s disciplinary committee that established this fact — 11 students.”
He added, “My information is that they were over 33, but for the records, to minimise the impact, they said 11.”
He questioned the silence around the matter. “What became the fate of those 11 students who were admitted back door? We are yet to know. But we shall uncover.”
Mr. Dafeamekpor, who hinted he has written an article on the subject to be published Thursday, said the time has come to shift from a restrictive system to a modern, inclusive one.
“We are asking for the democratisation of legal education,” he stated. “What am I saying? Let every faculty accredited to run the academic LLB programs be accredited or licensed to train their own lawyers.”
He explained that under the new bill, faculties will run academic and professional training for law students and then present them for a centralised bar exam.
“We will have one bar exam, conducted twice a year — one in January, one in July. When you pass it in January, you are called to the bar in March or April. When you pass in July, you’re called in September or October.”
According to him, this approach will make legal education more accessible and fit for national development.
“Already, the faculties are calling themselves law schools anyway. What becomes of a law school when you can’t train lawyers?”
He said the reforms would see the Ghana School of Law become one of several institutions offering legal education, not the sole gatekeeper.
“It will also become a competitor in the training of lawyers. It will admit its own students afresh. Train them in the practical courses. When they are ready, they go and face the bar. You pass the bar, you are called.”
He also challenged the public perception that every lawyer must enter courtroom practice.
“It’s not everybody who becomes a lawyer who wants to be a practitioner. That’s the erroneous impression in the minds of a lot of people,” he said.
“There are more people with a law degree called to the bar who are not in practice. They are into corporate law and others, and we need them.”
Mr. Dafeamekpor added that legal minds are needed in all spheres of governance.
“If you enter a lot of assemblies in this country, you’ll see that you need lawyers who may not even be practitioners but have the legal training, who have the legal mind to guide decision-making.”
When asked by host Evans Mensah when the bill would be passed, his response was unequivocal.
“Why not? I’m the Majority Chief Whip. And we are even minded to move this under certificate of urgency. It is one of our major political promises, and we will deliver it.”
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