THE ASSOCIATION of Law Students’ Presidents of Ghana has petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye for a vote to annul Legal Profession, (professional and post-call law course), Regulations, 2017.
“In pursuance of Articles 11(7)(c), 41(b), 41(d) and 297(b) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic and Order 200 of the Standing Orders of Parliament, we, the undersigned, having regard to the laying of the “Legal Profession (Professional and Post-Call Law Course) Regulation 2017” before Parliament and publication of same in the Gazette on December 22, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as “Regulation”), do hereby petition your good office to permit any Member of Parliament, who is in copy of this petition, to invoke Orders 50, 53(1)(n), 54, 163(3), 164(1) and 164(2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament to cause Parliament to annul the Regulation before the expiration of twenty-one (21) sitting days from the first day Parliament is recalled for normal sitting or from the above-mentioned date of the laying of the Regulation (whichever meets Parliament requirements in the context),” the petition read.
The Association in the petition signed jointly by Noah E. Tetteh, President, Law Students’ Union, KNUST Faculty of Law, Jonathan Nana Nyarko Cudjoe
President, Law Students’ Union, UCC Faculty of Law, Kenneth A. Appiah, President, Law Students’ Union, UG School of Law, among others, said “as a summary explanatory memorandum in support of this petition, we wish to suggest, in our respectful opinion, that if the Regulation is allowed to pass by the lapse of time, the Regulation will constitute another unfortunate passing of a Regulation by Parliament which Regulation the Court is most likely to declare certain provision(s) unconstitutional, as exemplified in the recent case of Ghana Independent Broadcasting Association (GIBA) v Attorney General & National Media Commission (Content Standards Regulations) 2016 (unreported case).
“To avoid a repeat of this, therefore, we pray for a motion in Parliament that the Regulation before Parliament now be annulled by the votes of more than 184 members (two-thirds) of Parliament before the expiration of twenty-one(21) siting days,” it added.
“The salient highlights of our reasoning are that it is a Regulation with provisions which are: providing retrospective effect contrary to Articles 107(a) and 107(b) of the 1992 Constitution; pursuant to Article 11(6), not in accordance with the general objectives of the 1992 Constitution, in particular, Article 17(1), 17(2), 17(4)(a), 21(1)(f), 21(4) 23, 25(1)(c), 25(1)(e), 25(2), 34(1), 35(3), 35(4), 35(8), 37(1), 37(2)(b), 37(3), 38(1), 38(3)(a), 58(2), 58(3), 296(a), 296(b) and 297(d); not in accordance with the general objectives of the Legal Profession Act 1960 (Act 32) to which it is being made, in particular, Sections 1(3), 3, 4, 8(3), 13(1)(c), 13(2), 14(a), 14(c) and 15(1); not in accordance with the general objectives of National Accreditation Board Act (Act 774), in particular the national educational policy under Sections 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 19, and 21;and therefore providing for matters which should be dealt with in an Act of Parliament.
In summary, the General Legal Council, in our respectful view, over a certain period, neglected or failed to carry out certain aspects of its duty under Sections 1(3), 13 and 14 of Act 32. As a result, this created a huge problem of imbalance between the number of eligible students qualified for professional law course, on one hand, and on the other hand a disproportionate capacity of the Ghana School of Law to absorb all the eligible students who are qualified and applying to be admitted, it added.
BY Melvin Tarlue