Ghana Bar only concerned with length of a woman's dress instead of fighting real injustices – Kwaku Azar

Legal luminary Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, known widely as Kwaku Azar, has given evidence in support of claims by business magnate Sam Jonah that there is an apparent return of the culture of silence, saying for instance how the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) is silent on the prevalence of injustice but only occasionally talk about issues such as the length of the dresses of women.

According to Kwaku Azar, Mr Sam Jonah’s assertions on the culture of silence does not mean that Ghanaians are not allowed to talk or write on social media but that “what we say or sometimes do not say is purely driven by convenience, parochialism, hypocrisy, and lack of conviction.”

Kwaku Azar then gave instances to show that there exists a culture of silence, including the silence of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) on the important matter of injustice in the country.

“…there is injustice everywhere but the GBA is hardly heard from except occasionally when it opines on the length of women’s dress…corruption is everywhere but it does not seem to find its way to the Christian Council’s agenda or pulpit…. the academy, which is given academic freedom to be the conscience of society, seems to be receding into oblivion in contradistinction to the military days when its members spoke words that penetrated the halls of power…,” he said.

In 2020, the President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) Mr. Anthony Forson advised female lawyers to desist from wearing revealing clothes. He cautioned them not to show too much skin, whether working in court or out of court.

“Bare arms are generally frowned upon in the office and never appropriate in court. Skirts or blouses should always be bottomed so that cleavage is never revealed,” he had said.

But Kwaku Azar had promptly disagreed with him, asking that the GBA stop their obsession with the dressing of females.