Francis-Xavier Sosu, Member of Parliament for the Madina constituency, has revealed that certain Members of Parliament are contemplating a Private Members’ Bill to address issues with legal education in Ghana.
He believes that the Attorney General should take steps to reorganize and increase access to legal education in Ghana.
In an interview, the legislator said that he wants the General Legal Council to be dissolved as one of the ways to resolve Ghana’s legal education problems.
“It is time for us to open up the law school, and we really have to start that with the admission of the 499 students. We need to redo things, otherwise, we are failing. It is a big shame that this problem recurs every year, and we allow this to fester. It means we are not moving forward as a people…. [We need] a complete dissolution of the GLC and to replace these old ways of doing things,” he said.
“I and some other colleagues are working to explore the possibility of introducing a Private Members Bill if it will take a longer time to address this,” he added.
Members of the National Association of Law Students (NALS) and several LLB graduates who were unable to get admission to the Ghana School of Law this year took to the streets on Wednesday to demand changes to Ghana’s legal education system.
The students blamed their failure to obtain admission to the institution this year on the General Legal Council (GLC).
The pass mark for the entrance exams has traditionally been 50 percent in both parts, but the rule was reportedly changed for this year’s exams, so applicants had to achieve at least 50 percent in both sections before sailing through.
Some 499 of those who failed the examinations claimed that they would have been admitted to the Ghana School of Law had it not been for the GLC’s new policy.
This has prompted discussions about the need for immediate reforms.
The 499 candidates, according to Francis-Xavier Sosu, who attended the protest, “have a legitimate concern that we all need to push.”
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