Law practice a privilege, not a right – Godfred Dame

The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has resurrected the debate on access to Legal Education and the law profession in the country.

Speaking at the Induction Ceremony of new executives of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), the Attorney General also bemoaned the falling standard and ethics with the legal profession in recent times

“Mr. President and new executives, you owe a duty to drive home the point that the practice of law is not a right, it is a privilege. Along with it comes a moral obligation and a legal duty to uphold the dignity of the profession to ensure that the privileged call to the bar is not abused through unprincipled and disreputable conduct.

“Standards of practice have declined to their lowest depths, and I speak from experience of what I witnessed in the Supreme Court last week in the conduct of some lawyers in certain cases that they handled. Ethics is virtually thrown to the dogs in the dishonorable quest of some lawyers to win a case,” he advised.

His comment comes in the wake of disagreements between the Attorney General and Parliament on the 499 students who were disallowed admission into the Ghana School of Law (GSL) despite their 50% pass mark.





Parliament last Friday passed a resolution for the General Legal Council to compel the Ghana Law School to admit the 499 students who sat for the 2021 entrance exams and passed in accordance with the marking scheme as advertised.

This follows a motion moved by deputy minority whip Ahmed Ibrahim, fine-tuned by the first deputy speaker who was presiding Joseph Osei-Owusu and repeated by Effutu MP and deputy majority leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin.

In a sharp rebuttal, the Attorney General rejected the resolution by Parliament for the General Legal Council to intervene so that GSL will admit the 499 law students.

In a statement to Parliament on Monday, November 1, the Attorney General said Parliament is “devoid of the power through the use of Parliamentary resolutions, to control the process of admission into the Ghana School of Law. The mode of exercising legislative power enshrined in article 106 of the Constitution does not admit resolutions.”

Source:Starrfm.com.gh