LL.B Graduates Of The Faculty Of Law, Knust, Kumasi

PRESS RELEASE

BY: 2009 LL.B Graduates Of The Faculty Of Law, Knust, Kumasi 25/06/09

We, the members of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) 2009 LL.B graduates of the Faculty of Law were admitted to the KNUST Faculty of Law in 2005 to study Law. Upon successful completion of the four -year programme we were with hope and full assurance that we would be allowed, as has been the practice, to pursue our professional studies at the Ghana School of Law.

However, in a letter dated 8th June, 2009 with Ref. number SCR/92/Vol.40/30, the General Legal Council directed the KNUST Faculty of Law to notify all 2009 graduates of a quota system which would be the basis for admitting students into the Ghana School of Law for the 2009/2010 academic year. Accordingly, 100, 60 and 40 slots have been allocated to the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Faculty of Law, KNUST and foreign and external degree holders respectively. We, the affected students, consider the decision of the General Legal Council to be unfair and problematic! The practice over the years has been that LL.B graduates from the Faculty of Law, KNUST and University of Ghana are all given the opportunity to further their education at the Ghana School of Law. Previous batches of KNUST Faculty of Law have successfully enrolled at the Ghana School of Law without been saddled with the additional requirement of having to compete among themselves based on merit for admission. Needless to mention that some of the graduates from the KNUST Faculty of Law are now legal practitioners. If the Council’s decision were to stand, many students would be affected. What happens to the remaining 145 graduates who would be left behind and the future of subsequent LL.B graduates? We are not unmindful of the accommodation and other logistical challenges that the Ghana School of Law may be facing. We are equally not unaware of the saying that necessity is the mother of invention and that desperate situations require desperate measures. With all due respect, the accommodation constraints could be resolved by the running of two streams; one on the Legon campus and the other at the Ghana School of Law premises. This has the greatest prospect of accommodating all LL.B graduates desirous of pursuing their professional studies this year. It is our understanding that the Lecturers at the Ghana School of Law would be comfortable with such arrangement.

The decision of the General Legal Council has dire consequences, not only for us, but for subsequent LL.B graduates as the same fate may befall them. It is our humble plea to the General Legal Council, the President of the Republic of Ghana, Parliament, the Chief Justice, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General and the Minister of Education to consider the plight of the affected graduates.

Thank you! Spokespersons: ................................... Nana Kwesi Boaitey 0244691589/Daniel Y. Sekyere-027215691