Parliament has been petitioned over the new Legislative Instrument (LI) by the General Legal Council (GLC), which is proposing new regulations for admissions and professional law courses in the country.
A group calling itself Concerned LLB Holders, Ghana says the new LI by the Council did not only seek to frustrate their attempts to gain admissions but a breach on their fundamental human rights and also aimed at frustrating lawyer hopefuls in the country.
The petition signed by LLB students from various universities is making a case for automatic admissions to the Ghana School of Law by LLB holders.
The group led by Mr Ken Addor Donkor, admitted that the GLC has been mandated by the Legal Profession Act 1960, Act 32 to organise legal education in the country, pursuant to this responsibility, the council approve both public and private institutions to the bachelors of laws programme at the faculty level.
The group said until 2012, the qualification to enrol into the Ghana School of Law has been regulated by Sections 2 and 3 of the professional Law course regulations.
However, the group said since 2012 the introduction of extra qualification criteria that included interview which was alien to LI 1296.
The LI in question, among other things, states that the GLC will conduct an entrance exam for the admission of students to the school, and conduct interviews for all applicants who pass the Ghana School of Law Entrance Examination.
The LI under consideration also proposed that a person may be disqualified for admissions based on the compatibility of their profession to the course.
Also, a person disqualified from the admissions process on three separate occasions can never qualify for the law school
Meanwhile the apex court of the land that is the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the requirement by the GLC asking applicants to the Ghana Law School to undertake an examination and subsequent interview before admission.
The court also indicated that the order should not take retrospective effect, but should be implemented in six months, when admissions for the 2018 academic year begin.
This was after, Professor Kwaku Asare, a United States-based Ghanaian lawyer and plaintiff proceeded to court in 2015, challenging the legality of the modes of admission used by the Ghana School of Law.
According to him, the number of people who were admitted into the Ghana School of Law was woefully small considering the number of people who possessed LLB.
The Ghana Law School is currently serving 12 schools providing LLB degrees.
GNA/Newsghana.com.gh
