President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says there is no space to admit the 499 law students who were denied admission despite attaining the 50 percent threshold in the Ghana Legal Council (GLC) examinations.
Describing the situation as unfortunate, the President said government is working to resolve the challenge.
“For the time being, there is no space in the law school for them. There are several others who unfortunately fell into the same pit. Maybe this group has been more vocal than their predecessors.” “I think the idea of more lawyers in the system is good for the health of the nation. We want a country that is governed by the rule of law. It means we need to have lawyers in all aspects of our national life guiding the development of our country. The conversation is ongoing and I am hoping that soon or later a solution will be found,” he said in an interview on Peace FM.
The 499 candidates who sat for the 2021 examinations were failed after a new quota system was introduced by the GLC.
The new quota requires candidates to pass 50% in each of the A and B sections in the exam.
The affected candidates have since been agitating and calling on the GLC to give admission to all 499 students who attained the 50 percent pass mark.
The President admitted that reserving admissions for just a select few will not serve the country’s interest.
“I myself, I think that idea of more and more lawyers in the system is good for the health of the nation. If we want a country that is governed by the rule of law, it means that we need to have lawyers in virtually all aspects of our national life guiding the development of our country so that the rule of law really makes sense,” he said.
He believes it is a reasonable expectation for Ghanaians to demand a solution from him due to his status as a celebrated lawyer.
“I think it’s a decent, reasonable expectation; I will not run away from it. I think it’s a reasonable expectation to see that this is a good moment for these matters to be resolved, and all I can say is that God willing, by the time I come back here the next year, substantial progress will be made in trying to deal with this.
“It’s unfortunate, I can’t pretend that this is a happy coincidence for me at all, on the contrary, I’m very disturbed by it, and I’m hoping that soon the cooperation of the various stakeholders, the Ghana Legal Council, the Chief Justice himself, Attorney General and myself, we’ll all find a solution to this situation”
Various groups have called on the GLC to provide raw scores of candidates who took part in the Ghana School of Law entrance exams for 2020 and 2021.
—citinewsroom
