The 499 aggrieved law students have sought to interrogate the Attorney General’s recommendation to the General Legal Council, GLC, to now admit them into the Ghana School of Law.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame, in a letter, has asked the General Legal Council to grant admission to the 499 students who were denied entry into the Ghana School of Law.
A copy of the letter sighted by Citi News saw the Attorney General make three proposals.
“Grant deferred admission to the 499 candidates with effect from May 22. A special provision can be made for the first-year professional law course by candidates already admitted to run from October, 2021 to April, 2022. The 499 candidates may undertake their programme from May 2022 and ending November, 2022. Arrangements would have to be put in place for the two sets of candidates to undertake their pupillage and be called to the bar at a common date in the next two years.”
The Attorney General’s letter, dated November 1, 2021, also said the GLC can alternatively organize a special examination in November for the aggrieved students to justify their admission.
Following a directive from parliament to the General Legal Council to admit the aggrieved students, the Attorney General said the directive is unlawful.
Reacting to the turn of events, the President of the National Association of Law students, Hassan Asare, in an interview said ”the news is welcoming, and we believe that at least something will be done.”
He however raised concerns about some portions of the Attorney-General’s recommendation.
“When you study the letter carefully, it says that the process of admission lacks integrity and transparency. And the issue of the students not qualifying or not meeting the mark did not come up in this conversation. So the portion that says the students should go and justify their inclusion, I find it a bit questionable. It was not about the marks, but the integrity of the process, so why do they need to sit an exam again to justify their inclusion? But for the part that says the students should be admitted and differed, though I have some reservations, I’ll save them for the future, but the C is quite worrying and must be looked at.”
“If that option is rolled out, we will decide on our next line of action. I believe the third instruction negates the one and two, why should the students sit for an exam if they are being asked to admit them,” he added.
Already, some aggrieved students are in court challenging the refusal of the General Legal Council to admit them.
The Minority in Parliament has also filed a motion in parliament requesting for the removal of the Attorney General through a vote of censure for telling parliament that it does not have the power to ask the General Legal Council to admit the students.
The Attorney General was recently criticized for also suggesting that practicing law is a privilege and not a right.
