The former director of the Ghana School of Law (GSL), Kwaku Ansah-Asare, has described the exchanges between Parliament and the office of the Attorney General as “needless display of power”.
Parliament last week by a resolution, directed the Ghana School of Law (GSL) to admit all 499 students who passed the recent entrance examination but have been denied admission.
But in a letter dated 1 November 2021 and addressed to the Speaker of Parliament, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame said the legislature has no locus to issue that directive under Article 106 of the 1992 Constitution.
Speaking on The Big Bulletin on Monday (1 November) Ansah-Asare said Parliament’s directive is unconstitutional.
”What Parliament has been doing is to say the least detestable. This is a council that has been mandated under the laws of Ghana under the very constitution that Parliament is said to protect. The constitution is the supreme law.
“I would expect Parliament not to wade into this unnecessary show. Parliament has no authority to do what it is doing… how many MPs voted? How many MPs voted Yes? How many voted No?” he asked.
Ansah-Asare wants the aggrieved students to seek legal redress.
“If anybody disagrees; go to court, don’t go to Parliament, let us leave them to pursue the matter in court. Parliament should not wade into it at all.”
Lack of locus
Dame said Parliament’s powers are limited as far as admission into the Ghana School of Law is concerned.
“Respectfully, I am aware of a resolution passed by Parliament at its sitting on Friday 29 October 2021 in these terms: ‘… The General Legal Council is hereby directed to proceed and admit all the students who passed in accordance with the advertised rules of the examinations.. The Attorney General is the leader of the Bar in Ghana and he must see to it that the directive that 499 students who scored 50 marks are admitted is complied with.
“We do not want to get to contempt of Parliament issues. Whilst recognising the general legislative powers of Parliament in Ghana, except as have been circumscribed by the constitution, I am constrained to advise that Parliament is devoid of a power, through the use of parliamentary resolutions, to control the process of admission into the Ghana School of Law.”
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