‘The devil has confounded people to place doctors above lawyers’ – GBA president

The President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Yaw Acheampong Boafo has said the work of lawyers should be considered more important than doctors.

He made these remarks during an interview with Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show Citi CBS with Bernard Avle on Monday.

According to him, the “devil has confounded the public to place Doctors as being above Lawyers” but in reality, it is the opposite as according to him, lawyers are fulfilling the mandate of Jesus Christ on earth.

The GBA President was speaking in relation to the subject of Pro-Bono Cases undertaken by various law firms and whether it is time the Bar imposes a compulsory Pro-Bono quota on law firms as Corporate Social Responsibility.

Yaw Acheampong Boafo said law firms are doing a lot of Pro-Bono cases and imposing a quota may be counterproductive as it will rather limit them than enhance it.

He said unlike the Medical profession where professionals do “cash and carry” and refuse to attend to patients if a certain payment is not made, lawyers are able to provide services to the underprivileged due to the necessity of legal representation granted to everyone by right under the constitution.

Touching on the constitution, the GBA Boss opined that every document that is over 30 years requires a review.

However, the lawyer warned against populism.

On specific amendments he may want to see if the constitution were to be reviewed, he said he believes Members of Parliament should not be members of the executive arm of government.

“I believe there are some positions that can be looked at…I think that there are certain provisions for example, one thing that readily comes to mind is I don’t think that MPs should be members of the executive.”

“There are certain provisions that we can take and work out but a wholesale repeal of the fourth republic constitution can be very uncomfortable. I think that naturally with every document after 30 years, you have to take it and review it. But I think that we have to look at some provisions,” he stated.