When Everyone Wants to Be a Lawyer: Rethinking Ghana’s career priorities for national development

Read Article

Comments (11)

This article is closed for comments.

Read Comments Comments (11)

Kwamejazi 2 months ago

This is scary. Ghana is heading towards a cliff edge.

This is scary. Ghana is heading towards a cliff edge.
Sam 2 months ago

Engineering in a developing country is fundamental and transformative, acting as a primary driver for economic growth, improved quality of life, and sustainable development.
Engineering expertise is critical because devel ...
read full comment

Engineering in a developing country is fundamental and transformative, acting as a primary driver for economic growth, improved quality of life, and sustainable development.
Engineering expertise is critical because developing nations often face significant challenges related to basic infrastructure and resource management.It is very unfortunate that we spend a lot of our resources producing lawyers. Great nations depend on their engineers and technicians, but not on their lawyers!
Andrew - 2 months ago

I was going to say the same thing. Everyone in Ghana is now a lawyer.

I was going to say the same thing. Everyone in Ghana is now a lawyer.
kakabo 2 months ago

The aspiration of the overwhelming majority of the youth to become lawyers in the Ghanaian society is perplexing to any forward-thinking person. The overproduction of lawyers, relative to the production of the professions tha ...
read full comment

The aspiration of the overwhelming majority of the youth to become lawyers in the Ghanaian society is perplexing to any forward-thinking person. The overproduction of lawyers, relative to the production of the professions that can take the nation forward, such as engineering, physics, and mathematics, is not a recent phenomenon. As far back as 1924 (over a century ago), the then Okyehene, Nana Sir Ofori Atta I, made a similar statement, urging the colonial government to prioritize education in sectors that can transform the economy and society, rather than focusing on the production of Lawyers. More than a hundred years later, we still have not been able to solve the problem. We have not been able to solve the problem because we have not focused on the ingredients that could produce engineers, mathematicians, and physicists, mainly due to the haphazard way of teaching mathematics and science at the basic level. No Significant effort has been made to revolutionize the teaching of mathematics and science at the basic level. The nation had not made any deliberate efforts to enhance the learning of maths and science as a national priority in any way, shape, or form. The result is that science is taught in outdated, overly complex ways, making it difficult for an average student to understand, enjoy, and love the subject. In the process, most students at the basic level are steered towards reading courses, leading to an overproduction of lawyers at the tertiary level.
Politics has also failed to do enough to help resolve the issue. Could you review Akuffo Addo's cabinet and determine the percentage of lawyers among them? Even the ministries that were engineering-based, such as Roads and Highways and Communications, were headed by lawyers. The same things apply to the NDC setup. The lawyers hold sway. Go to parliament and you will see that they are all lawyers. That is why we excel at making laws but struggle with enforcing them. So, are you surprised that the young ones aspire to do law instead of engineering? As somebody puts it, you cannot sue your way into progress; that is why we are stagnant and even regressing.
It is a fact that engineers are fundamentally better managers than those with arts-based degrees, including law. Nowadays, most top-class universities admit engineers and mathematics-based graduates to their business schools for their MBA courses. In banking, Engineers are often considered better bankers than those with arts degrees. Additionally, law schools at top-class universities prefer candidates with engineering and related backgrounds over those with an arts background, as they have found that such students make better lawyers in practice.
Let us revolutionize the teaching of mathematics and sciences because that is where the salvation of the nation's progress lies, and not in those 19th-century professions.
Your Abuse back to you in droves 2 months ago

Good Article. Spoke my mind.

Good Article. Spoke my mind.
AMARIYA 2 months ago

FREEDOM TO COMPETE

All the talks about producing more lawyers is good. For many decades gone by, it was difficult to break into the law profession. One ought to have "a name" or well-connected to be called to the bar. The ...
read full comment

FREEDOM TO COMPETE

All the talks about producing more lawyers is good. For many decades gone by, it was difficult to break into the law profession. One ought to have "a name" or well-connected to be called to the bar. The legal industry should not be restricted but accept anyone with good moral ethos and excellent pass in their legal professional examination.
I strongly believe in competition. Businesses of the same kind compete in an opened markets. This will hold too for lawyer firms. The best lawyers would survive and legal fees should be affordable to the average and average citizens.
Dogo 2 months ago

You missed the point of the article. You must be one of the miseducated lawyers or aspiring to be one. I pity you.

You missed the point of the article. You must be one of the miseducated lawyers or aspiring to be one. I pity you.
Pearl 2 months ago

I think we also need to hype the successful completion of certified engineers and also make the profession very attractive and known in our elementary schools..

The law students and their family & friends have also contrib ...
read full comment

I think we also need to hype the successful completion of certified engineers and also make the profession very attractive and known in our elementary schools..

The law students and their family & friends have also contributed to hyping (broadcasting) of their graduation ceremony...the engineers can also do same in this age of social media presence..
Sam Ansah 2 months ago

Well said in the article. Ghana has turned to be a nation of no value to the core of development. Most people want to be in politics with a mindset of looking out for themselves and their families, not thinking about building ...
read full comment

Well said in the article. Ghana has turned to be a nation of no value to the core of development. Most people want to be in politics with a mindset of looking out for themselves and their families, not thinking about building a better future for the nation. This has to change.
Emmanuel Korby Agbevanu 2 months ago

Perfect awakening thought provoking sensible caution to Ghana and Ghanainans .
Thank you for telling the deep truth .

Perfect awakening thought provoking sensible caution to Ghana and Ghanainans .
Thank you for telling the deep truth .

Emmanuel Korby Agbevanu 2 months ago

Perfect awakening thought provoking sensible caution to Ghana and Ghanaians .
Thank you for telling the deep truth .

Perfect awakening thought provoking sensible caution to Ghana and Ghanaians .
Thank you for telling the deep truth .

11 Comments

Welcome,

SIGN IN

Welcome,

RESET PASSWORD

Hello,

Terms and conditions

REGISTER

When Everyone Wants to Be a Lawyer: Rethinking Ghana’s career priorities for national development

Read Comments .st0{display:none;fill:#14BDD3;} .st1{display:none;} .st2{display:inline;fill:#FC0F0F;} .st3{display:inline;fill:#FFFFFF;} .st4{display:inline;fill:none;stroke:#000000;stroke-width:6;stroke-miterlimit:10;} Comments (11)

Read Comments Comments (11)