The lawsuit filed against the General Legal Council, GLC, and the Attorney General by the 499 aggrieved law students denied admission into the Ghana School of Law has been withdrawn.
The students took the matter to court on the basis that they were denied admission to the Ghana School of Law by the General Legal Council, although they passed the examination by the mandated 50 percent pass mark.
Several appeals were made for the students to be admitted, including Parliament, which directed the General Legal Council to admit the students.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame in a letter to Parliament subsequently indicated that their directive was unlawful
However, it has emerged in a letter written to the GLC before the parliamentary order, that the Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame, had actually asked the GLC to grant admission to the students.
In the letter, the Attorney General suggested that the students be admitted in November this year or in May 2022. He however recommended three pathways by which the admission can be done.
Lawyer for the students, Martin Kpebu, who confirmed to Citi News that the case has been withdrawn, said the decision was premised on the AG’s letter to the GLC for the aggrieved students to be admitted.
AG’s letter
A copy of the AG’s letter sighted by Citi News saw the Attorney General make three proposals, including asking the GLC to “Grant deferred admission to the 499 candidates with effect from May 22. A special provision can be made for the first-year professional law course by candidates already admitted to run from October 2021 to April 2022. The 499 candidates may undertake their programme from May 2022, and ending November 2022. Arrangements would have to be put in place for the two sets of candidates to undertake their pupillage and be called to the bar at a common date in the next two years.”
The Attorney General’s letter, also, said the GLC can alternatively organize a special examination in November for the aggrieved students to justify their admission.