General News of Saturday, 8 July 2017
Source: citifmonline.com
2017-07-08
The Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional the entrance exams and interview session
The Concerned LLB Graduates group says it is disappointed in the decision by the General Legal Council to proceed with the upcoming entrance exams for potential students seeking enrolment at the Ghana Law School despite a judgment from the Supreme Court.
The law degree holders earlier petitioned the GLC to facilitate automatic admissions into the Law School by scraping this year’s entrance exams slated for July 14, 2017.
According to the group the exams will amount to an illegality after the Supreme Court judgment on the matter.
But Ghana Law School in its response letter said after an emergency meeting held on July 6, 2017 “the Council decided that in line with the terms of the judgment in the above mentioned case, the law school entrance examination scheduled for Friday July 14th would take place as planned.”
“Your petition, which includes among other thigns a request for automatic admission to the Ghana School of Law, is therefore declined,” the letter signed by the Secretary of the General Legal Council, Justice Alex B. Poku-Acheampong added.
The spokesperson of the Concerned LLB Graduates, Naomi Nana Sam, said their leaders will meet soon to decide on the next line of action.
“I am very much disappointed because what I’m thought in school is different from what is happening right now. If we decide not to take part in the exams, what happens to us? Is the constitution really supreme or is the General Legal Council supreme? The constitution is always the supreme law of the land. As law students, if this is what the law requires of us, we have nothing to do. On the next move, leadership is about to meet and we will decide what to do next,” she added.
Background
The Supreme Court on June 22, 2017 declared as unconstitutional the entrance exams and interview session before admitting new students into the Ghana Law School.
According to the court, in a case brought before it by Professor Kwaku Asare, a United States-based Ghanaian lawyer, in 2015, the requirements were in violation of the Legislative Instrument 1296 which gives direction for the mode of admission.
The Justices in delivering their judgment, also indicated that their order should not take retrospective effect, but should be implemented in six months, when admissions for the 2018 academic year begins.
The Concerned LLB Graduates group had earlier threatened to go to court if its request was turned down but it is currently unclear whether it would carry out the threat.
