Paul Adom-Otchere, the host of Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV, has criticized the National Association of Law Students for what he describes as pitching the opposition against the government with their demonstration.
He described the demonstration ending up in former President Mahama’s residence as politically sensitive.
“...students demonstrate and it is very politically sensitive, they pitch the opposition against the government...so if the government is not listening to us, we go to the opposition and they should remember that next year is an election year...,” he stated on Good Evening Ghana.
Mr Adom-Otchere noted that the demonstrators, were blackmailing government with votes, something which happens in an indisciplined society.
“It’s an indisciplined society that blackmails its leaders with votes,” he said.
Paul Adom-Otchere believes there should be high standards in the Ghanaian society. “The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has had some of the highest standards from the days of JB Danquah in the 1960s...those standards must be kept...Why should students go on a demonstration and say that we have the right to pass the exams...What is the point of the demonstration that people should be allowed to pass?” he quizzed.
He advised the National Association of Law Students to lobby the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and the General Legal Council (GLC) to either change the rules or amend the rule that accommodates law students into the Ghana School of Law.
“I get worried when I see students demonstrating on the streets and say that they have the right to be members of the GBA...we have the rights to be called to the Bar...no one has the right to be called to the Bar because the GBA and GLC decide the standards they want...” he reiterated.
Paul Adom-Otchere stressed that there have been constraints with accommodations with the higher institutions we have in the country but that does not give students especially law students the right to go onto the streets demonstrating.
He, on the other hand, condemned the police brutalities on the unarmed demonstrators. He agreed in principle that the constitution gives the demonstrators the right to demonstrate.