Ken Kuranchie
A columnist and a member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has sued the Attorney General (AG) and the General Legal Council (GLC) over what he describes as a breach of his human rights over bar exams.
In his suit filed at the Supreme Court and the Human Right Division of the Accra High Court, the plaintiff is challenging the decision of the GLC asking him and other students to resit all 10 papers before they can be called to the Bar.
He said in the suit that he was among a batch of students who were admitted to study Professional Law at the Ghana School of Law after he attained a Bachelor of Law Certificate from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
In his affidavit, Mr. Kuranchie contended that he sat the final examinations organised by the Ghana School of Law and passed five of the papers. He said he finds it ‘unreasonable’ that he has to rewrite all 10 papers as though he has failed all.
The plaintiff asserted that he has every reason to believe that the five passes, as well as the results of the other courses, are commendable scores that should ensure his call to the Bar.
“The plaintiff has since been told that . . . he has to resit all 10 courses before he can qualify for admission to the Bar.
“The plaintiff believes that this is an abuse of his rights because by the admission of GSL, a body wholly controlled by 2nd defendant (GLC), he at least passed five courses and should not be asked to endure resitting for courses he has already passed,” Mr. Kuranchie averred in the suit.
He said this amounts to an abuse of the teaching staff of the school as well as infrastructural resources and an “unreasonable discretion”.
The plaintiff is also challenging the fees imposed by the GLC for student to pay to resit the failed papers and those he has already passed, describing the decision as “a gross abuse of economic and human rights”.
He is therefore seeking, among other things, “A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Articles 23 and 296 (a) and (b) of the 1992 Constitution, the Pass Grade employed by 2nd defendants and its officers and assigns, namely the Board of Legal Education and the Ghana School of Law, with regard to the 2017 Intake to the Ghana School of Law, are unknown to L.I. 1296 and constitutes a capricious exercise of discretion and therefore null and void.”
Mass Failure
The petition is to ask the Speaker of the House, Prof. Aaron Mike Ocquaye, to set up a committee to look into reasons why the number of students who fail the final bar examinations kept increasing every year.
The decision was arrived at by the student body at a forum held on the Makola campus where students deliberated on ways to resolve the situation which they said is worrisome.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak