Kwaku Azar awarded for challenging the legal status quo in Ghana

Stephen Kwaku Asare, a US-based legal practitioner and accounting professor known in many circles as “Kwaku Azar”, has been honored by the Ghanaian Diasporan community for the singular act of testing the law in Ghana and winning the case at the highest court of the land.

It would be recalled that Professor Asare took the Attorney General and the General Legal Council to court for the proper interpretation of Legislative Instrument 1296 (LI) which according to him does specify that law students who have passed their LLB exams must go through an entrance examination and a selection interview before gaining admission into the law school for qualifying certificate.

The move by professor Asare is in regard to article 2(1) (a) of the 1992 constitution which states that “A person who alleges that -an enactment or anything contained in or done, under the authority of that or any other enactment…… May bring an action in the Supreme Court for a declaration to that effect”.

It was in line with these constitutional provisions that Professor Asare went to the Supreme Court for proper interpretation of LI 1296. And on the 22nd of June 2017 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Professor Asare declaring the examination and interview conducted by the General Legal Council was illegal and therefore must cease to operate.

his ruling brought huge relief to all prospective law students in Ghana. The court further ruled that the GLC must within six months come out with a different admission procedure other than interview and an examination to the law school.

This feat on the part of Professor Asare has been duly recognised by his fellow “diasporans” and was honored a dinner organised in his honor. Accepting the honor Professor Asare said Ghanaians wherever they find themselves must contribute towards the development of the country and thanked the organisers of the events for the honor done him.