CJ calls on lawyers to uphold civic, moral obligations

Accra, Jan. 28, GNA - The Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Wood on Wednesday called for a new breed of law graduates with a high sense of purpose to lead civil society to uphold civic and moral obligations. She therefore asked legal training institutions to review their curricula in order to provide lawyers with the conceptual and analytical tools relevant for challenges of the 21st century. "We need to keep pace with modern development otherwise, we will be increasingly left behind and unable to compete in the rapidly globalized and changing world," the CJ added.

Chief Justice Wood made the call at the launch of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana in Accra under the theme: "Faculty of Law (UG)@50: Contribution to Education, Governance and Socio-Economic Development". As an alumnus of the Faculty, Mrs Wood described the Faculty as the lifeblood of legal education in the country, which had trained many acclaimed legal practitioners both home and abroad. She said some of the Faculty's products included President John Evans Atta Mills and Ghana's first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Mrs Wood urged the Faculty to remain committed to its mission and visions and strive to become a centre of excellence in the sub-region and beyond. She said constitutional justice must also be accorded its rightful place in jurisprudence and legal education, hence the need for legal training institutions to commit more resources into Constitutional Law and other related subjects.

"Emphasis should be placed on not just the black letter law and legal theories, but also on social context issues, the culture of integrity, public spiritedness and on excellence." Mrs Wood saluted the founding fathers of the Faculty and appealed to all beneficiaries of the Faculty to "kindle a greater path and vision for future generations".

Professor Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe, Vice Chancellor of the University, said the occasion would provide the platform to re-examine the goals and assess the performance of the Faculty in the past 50 years. He said the theme for the celebration was therefore relevant to assess whether the Faculty had met its expectation in contributing to Ghana's socio-economic development. Prof Tagoe also indicated that the event would also be a homecoming to galvanize support for the alumni for the Faculty's growth and development goals.

Nana Dr S.K.B. Asante, an acclaimed lecturer of law, writer and legal practitioner, also implored lawyers in the country to take it upon themselves to lead the campaign for the respect of rule of law and human rights. He said they should also volunteer to do more public service by providing legal aid especially to the deprived and vulnerable in order to get civil society more informed of their rights and obligations.