Opinions of Sunday, 3 November 2019
Columnist: awakenewsroom.com
WHAT GHANAIANS MUST KNOW ABOUT HAPPENINGS AT THE GHANA SCHOOL OF LAW AND CHIEF JUSTICE SOPHIA AKUFFO’S DEFINITION OF QUALITY TRAINING OF LAWYERS
After several years of agitation, the Chief Amends assuredly bankrupt her blackout alert this year on able acknowledged apprenticeship in Ghana. According to the admired Chief Justice, she doesn’t accept in the ‘mass-production’ of attorneys but rather the focus should be on quality.
She went advanced to accompaniment that so continued as she had commodity to do with the training of attorneys what she termed ‘mass-production’ won’t happen. She again aggregate her acquaintance on the Disciplinary Committee of the Accepted Acknowledged Council about the conduct of attorneys as absolution for her advancement for affection and not quantity.
It appears so far that the Chief Amends is walking a abandoned aisle – she doesn’t arise to accept any abutment on her position. At atomic not publicly. It appears she is appropriate and anybody abroad is wrong. Abounding commentators on this affair accept acicular out acutely that the affection and training of added attorneys are not mutually exclusive.
What the Chief Amends fails to accept is that affection affirmation through the enactment of able-bodied standards and procedures for the training and assay of attorneys is what is important.
Using awkward agency to abjure bodies the befalling to accompany able acknowledged apprenticeship has no abode in the 21st Century. Again, people’s delinquency as attorneys has annihilation to do with their adeptness to canyon the bar exams.
In any case, there can be actual able bodies who may canyon the bar exams but may accept bad character.
This is, however, not the focus of this article. So far, the accessible abode has bootless to accompany to the ahead some of the best analytical issues which accept been buried by the Chief Amends which alike admitting the Chief Amends is absolutely acquainted of, she is arena ostrich to accomplish the accessible accept that the arrangement of training attorneys is abounding affidavit appropriately unquestionable.
To activate with, the contempo reforms at the Ghana Academy of Law can be declared as the affliction affair that has happened to acknowledged apprenticeship in Ghana. In the past, Bachelor of Laws was not a claim to admission the Ghana Academy of Law appropriately abounding attorneys who were acknowledged in the admission examinations proceeded to alternation as lawyers. The law now requires that alone LLB holders are acceptable to accompany the Able Law Course. It stands to acumen that any LLB holder from a accustomed university is acceptable to accept in the GSL and afterwards booty the bar exams.
In the past, alone the Faculties of Law at the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology offered the LLB programme appropriately there was a allocation arrangement to accept acceptance from these two Faculties as able-bodied as a allocation for acceptance from added accepted law jurisdictions.
By 2014 the National Accreditation Board had accepted accreditation to abounding added institutions to run the LLB programme. The Accepted Acknowledged Council bootless to acknowledge to the accretion numbers and rather reintroduced admission examinations but maintained its acceptance allocation of 250 acceptance anniversary year. This allocation arrangement fabricated it difficult for abounding contrarily able acceptance to admission the law school. Abounding balked applicants who accept the adequacy had to biking to added accepted law jurisdictions to alternation as lawyers.
This abnormality has resulted in a excess of about 2,000 LLB holders who are clumsy to admission able acknowledged education. This is acutely an bogus botheration created by bodies who anticipate that they are the gatekeepers of the acknowledged profession and they charge actuate who becomes a lawyer. While the nation is beneath lawyered, they booty contentment in added abstinent bodies admission to amends by unjustifiably and foolishly akin admission to able acknowledged education.
Entrance Examinations
In the past, the admission examinations to the Ghana Academy of Law was basically accepted knowledge. Currently, for a 2 hour examination, a applicant charge alter about all the 14 courses he/she advised over the 3 or 4 years of studies. This is abundant to actuate whether an LLB holder qualifies to accompany the Able Law Advance Programme or not.
Reforms
In 2015, the able law advance was afflicted from two years of advance assignment to one year. It is ambiguous if this change was abreast by any research. Beneath the antecedent two year programme a apprentice who bootless in added than 2 out of 6 capacity was fabricated to echo that year.
When the affairs was afflicted to 1 year of 2 semesters, the action changed. The after-effects of the aboriginal division examinations conducted in June are withheld and appear calm with the after-effects of the second-semester examinations conducted in October.
A apprentice who acquired brand C and beneath in added than 2 capacity cumulatively is fabricated to echo the absolute course. The aftereffect of this action is that abounding acceptance are admiring in the Ghana Academy of Law and are clumsy to graduate. Having accomplished the abrogating aftereffect of these reforms, the GLC has revised the affairs to 2 years afterwards accomplishing afterwards recourse to the law.
The Independent Examinations Committee
As allotment of the reforms, an Independent Examinations Committee was accustomed to be amenable for both admission and the bar examinations. The assumption was to abstracted assay from teaching and acquirements appropriately advisers accept no duke in the conduct and administration of examinations. It charge be acclaimed that the few acknowledged academics are the advisers at the Ghana Academy of Law and the Law Faculties.
Having afar them from this process, the IEC relies on attorneys and sometimes board who are not acknowledged academics and accept actual little ability of about appraisal to set assay questions and mark the scripts. There is affirmation to the aftereffect that some assay questions abatement alfresco the advance outline based on which acceptance are taught.
In 2016, acceptance boycotted examinations because of this. While discussing accomplished questions, advisers ascertain how abnormal some of the assay questions are. The IEC’s procedures are attenuated with abounding problems that casting a accusation on its integrity.
There accept been accepted letters of assay catechism leakages that answerable the IEC to conduct added examinations. There accept been challenges with appearance of scripts as some examiners accuse about bare appearance schemes. The IEC is the alone assay anatomy that conducts examinations and afterwards the absolution of their antecedent results, abounding afflicted acceptance who accept the adequacy to pay a whopping 3,000.00 to acknowledgment a cardboard are mostly successful. Abounding of those who pay 150 cedis per cardboard for the retallying of their after-effects are additionally successful.
For abounding years, in animosity of the incidents of accumulation failures at the Ghana Academy of Law, the IEC is clumsy to aftermath a distinct examiners’ abode to explain why the accepted bearing of acceptance are so bad to be declining exams at this rate.
In 2018, the Acceptance Representative Council petitioned the GLC, Parliament and the Admiral of Ghana to investigate the causes of accumulation failures at the Ghana Academy of Law. Consequently, the GLC set up the Amends Adinyira Committee to investigate.
At the end of the investigations, the GLC ordered the acquainted of scripts at no amount to acceptance and ordered a acquittance to those who had paid. This abode is reportedly beneath lock and key as it indicts the IEC and the Accepted Acknowledged Council on the poor conduct and administration of examinations which abundantly disadvantaged innocent acceptance but they are afraid to do annihilation to alleviate the plight of those students.
Again, the IEC does not accommodate to any timelines for the absolution of assay results. It takes the IEC about 7 to 8 months to mark and absolution assay results. The after-effects of examinations conducted in June for alone about 500 or so acceptance are appear in January the afterward year.
Currently, the GLC is investigating a case area a bootless apprentice was commissioned with a apprentice who anesthetized on in the after-effects of the added examinations appear in September this year.
Accountability
It’s accepted ability that out of the 1822 acceptance who activated to the Ghana Academy of Law aftermost year alone 128 reportedly anesthetized the exams which was taken by 1820 applicants. Anniversary of these applicants paid GHc450. So the GLC fabricated a sum of GHc819,900.
Last year, over 200 acceptance activated for acquainted of their scripts advantageous at atomic 3000 per script. This conservatively adds up to GHc600,000. With all these monies, who is the Ghana Academy of Law answerable to? Accept these fees been accustomed by Parliament as appropriate by the Fees and Charges Act? or the GLC is an island area Ghana’s laws do not administer there?
Chief Justice’s administration style
Interestingly, the Chief Amends is acquainted of all these developments but she’s unfazed. She wants the accepted accessible to accept that all is able-bodied with able acknowledged apprenticeship in this country. She and the Accepted Acknowledged Council accept abandoned recommendations from Parliament on the bearings the law academy as able-bodied as directives from the admiral to booty accomplish to abode the challenges at the Ghana Academy of Law.
She runs a one-woman appearance and her absolute administration appearance is abutting to that of Idi Amin. Back afflicted acceptance accelerate petitions and proposals to the Accepted Acknowledged Council, she dismisses them absolute afterwards recourse to the GLC and instructs the Judicial Secretary to acknowledgment that the GLC has beneath their appeal back in actuality associates of the GLC accept no ability whatsoever about the address or proposals.
As Amends Sophia Akuffo retires in December this year, she will go bottomward in history as the Chief Amends and Chair of the Accepted Acknowledged Council who presided over the affliction reforms at the Ghana Academy of Law. While she wants the accessible to accept that the Accepted Acknowledged Council is focused on affection adjoin what she refers to as ‘mass-production’, the believability of the Independent Examinations Committee’s assignment in the conduct and administration of examinations is in agnosticism and she is absolutely aware. There is no added way advanced than absolute reforms!
The Address of the Law Academy Acceptance to Admiral Akufo-Addo and his Abode to the Chief Justice
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