A seven-member Supreme Court panel, presided over by Justice Sulley Gbadegbe, has dismissed, by unanimous decision, an application by a Ghanaian professor of law based in the United States, Stephen Kwaku Asare, challenging the constitutionality of accreditation from the Ghana School of Law as the only institution to provide professional law courses.
The CDD-Ghana Fellow in Public Law and Justice instituted the action against the Attorney General and General Legal Council, arguing that the current arrangement with regard to legal education in Ghana is unconstitutional.
In his suit, the legal luminary was praying the apex court of the land to rule that, pursuant to Article 25 (2) of the 1992 constitution, accredited public and private universities have the right, at their own expense, to establish and maintain law faculties to offer the Professional Law Course, which prepares students for the Qualifying Certificate Examination.
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Article 25 (2) of the 1992 constitution states: “Every person shall have the right, at his own expense, to establish and maintain a private school or schools at all levels and of such categories and in accordance with such conditions as may be provided by law.”
On the foundation of the constitutional provision, the applicant, Professor Asare, was seeking a declaration that the distinction between the Professional Law Course, run by the Ghana School of Law, and the Academic Law Course, run by approved universities, is arbitrary and capricious. It exists only to further the monopoly power of the Ghana School of Law, in violation of Article 296 (b) of the 1992 constitution.
The seven-member panel, comprising Justices Sulley Gbadegbe, Yaw Appau, Samuel Marful-Sau, Agnes Dordzie, Nene Amegatcher, Nii Ashie Kotey and Mariama Owusu, dismissed the application. Their Lordships ruled that the full judgment will be available at the registry of the Supreme Court by close of day.
Wilberforce Asare / Asaase Radio
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