Member of Parliament for Tema Central, Yves Hanson-Nortey
• Law students sue Ghana Legal Council
• Parliament directs Ghana School of Law to admit 499 students
• Adopt UK model of outsourcing professional law training
As part of the measures to ensure legal education is more accessible, the Member of Parliament for Tema Central, Yves Hanson-Nortey, has proposed Ghana adopts the UK model of outsourcing professional law training to other institutions.
This according to him, will also resolve the issue of lack of infrastructure to admit more law students.
Speaking on Asaase’s Breakfast Show, the MP said “The Ghana School of Law can still have that position like an Inns of Court, like the Lincoln’s Inn and then outsource the teaching and learning space to third party institutions,” he said.
“In the UK they have BPP [Holdings], in fact, about 17 or 18 of them. Some of them are just specialised in legal education, like University of Wales, so I don’t see why we cannot do that.
“I know that it is a profession that people try to guard, especially the standards, making sure that people are well trained so that we get the best out of them,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament has filed a motion seeking the removal from office of the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, following his failure to act on the House’s resolution to the General Legal Council (GLC) to admit the aggrieved 499 law students.
This is on the back of parliament directing the General Legal Council to admit the 499 students denied admission into the Ghana School of Law despite making the 50 percent required mark.
However, in a response to parliament, The Attorney General, Godfred Dame said it does not have the power to direct him to make sure that the General Legal Council and the Ghana School of Law admit 499 LLB students who achieved the 50% pass mark.
He added that the 499 potential law students who have filed a suit against the Ghana School of Law and the General Legal Council (GLC) have no basis to do so because they did not pass the entrance examination which guarantees them admission.