Ken Kuranchie
A columnist
and a member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has sued the Attorney General (AG) and the General Legal Council (GLC)
over what he describes as a breach of his human rights over bar exams.
In his
suit filed at the Supreme Court and the Human Right Division of the Accra High
Court, the plaintiff is challenging the decision of the GLC asking him and
other students to resit all 10 papers before they can be called to the Bar.
He said
in the suit that he was among a batch of students who were admitted to study
Professional Law at the Ghana School of Law after he attained a Bachelor of Law
Certificate from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
In his
affidavit, Mr. Kuranchie contended that he sat the final examinations organised
by the Ghana School of Law and passed five of the papers. He said he finds it ‘unreasonable’
that he has to rewrite all 10 papers as though he has failed all.
The plaintiff
asserted that he has every reason to believe that the five passes, as well as
the results of the other courses, are commendable scores that should ensure his
call to the Bar.
“The plaintiff
has since been told that . . . he has to resit all 10 courses before he can qualify
for admission to the Bar.
“The plaintiff
believes that this is an abuse of his rights because by the admission of GSL, a
body wholly controlled by 2nd defendant (GLC), he at least passed five courses
and should not be asked to endure resitting for courses he has already passed,”
Mr. Kuranchie averred in the suit.
He said
this amounts to an abuse of the teaching staff of the school as well as
infrastructural resources and an “unreasonable discretion”.
The
plaintiff is also challenging the fees imposed by the GLC for student to pay to
resit the failed papers and those he has already passed, describing the
decision as “a gross abuse of economic and human rights”.
He is
therefore seeking, among other things, “A declaration that on a true and proper
interpretation of Articles 23 and 296 (a) and (b) of the 1992 Constitution, the
Pass Grade employed by 2nd defendants and its officers and assigns, namely the
Board of Legal Education and the Ghana School of Law, with regard to the 2017
Intake to the Ghana School of Law, are unknown to L.I. 1296 and constitutes a
capricious exercise of discretion and therefore null and void.”
Mass Failure
The
petition is to ask the Speaker of the House, Prof. Aaron Mike Ocquaye, to set
up a committee to look into reasons why the number of students who fail the
final bar examinations kept increasing every year.
The decision was arrived at by the student body at a forum held on the Makola campus where students deliberated on ways to resolve the situation which they said is worrisome.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak
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