Former Ghana Bar Association President Yaw Acheampong Boafo has raised concerns about the legal foundation of Ghana’s current system for training lawyers, arguing that some reforms have been implemented without fully complying with the law.
Mr Boafo said the problem was not necessarily the objective of reforming legal education, but the manner in which the changes had been introduced and the authority exercised by institutions and officials involved in the process.
Speaking on the issue, he argued that the reforms had sidelined professionals within the legal education system while giving significant influence to individuals he said were outside the system.
“Currently, we are training lawyers contrary to the law. It is not about disagreement with the current system. You can do the right thing the wrong way,” he said.
According to Mr Boafo, legislation was passed to provide for a statutory body to oversee aspects of legal education, but the body, in his view, has not been properly established.
He further alleged that the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General had assumed powers intended for the statutory body despite its not having been formally established.
He also questioned the legal basis for the introduction of a pre-Bar course and the accreditation of institutions under the current arrangement.
“A statutory body has been created, not established, but the Chief Justice and Attorney General have assumed the power of that body that has not been established,” he said.
Mr Boafo maintained that the reforms had created a situation in which the law was being displaced by administrative convenience.
“Now, when we start training lawyers illegally, what we’ve told them is that it is convenient for you to displace law,” he said.
He attributed what he described as weaknesses in the reform process partly to the exclusion of professionals who were already working within Ghana’s legal education system.
According to him, those who pushed for the reforms from outside the system treated insiders as obstacles rather than incorporating their expertise into the process.
He criticised what he described as attempts by individuals outside Ghana’s legal education establishment to dictate how the system should be administered.
“Those within the system were seen as enemies of the state. So when the law was being reformed, those in the system were sidelined and people sitting in Florida woke up one morning and, writing in big English, were telling us how to run the system,” he said.
His comments add to the ongoing debate over the structure, governance and legal framework for legal education and professional qualification in Ghana, particularly following reforms intended to change the process through which aspiring lawyers are trained and admitted to the profession.
