NDC will expand access to legal education – Haruna Iddrisu

The Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, has said the next National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will expand access to legal education.

“A lot of young people desire to pursue legal education…. the next Mahama led government  will review and give accreditation to certified law faculties across the country,” he said

This, he explained, will increase the number of professional lawyers in the country.

He said a lot of students have been denied the opportunity to access legal education

His comments come after some law students in 2019 raised objections to how legal education is being handled in by the general legal council.

In April 2019, Parliament asked the General Legal Council (GLC) to re-open the period for re-marking of 2017/2018 examination scripts so students who failed can take advantage of it.

This followed a petition to Parliament by the Student Representative Council of the Ghana School of Law over the failure of more than 80% of the students who sat for the 2018 entrance exams.

Shortly after, in late September, it was announced that only 128 students representing 7% out of the 1,820 candidates who sat for 2019 entrance law exams, passed to be admitted.

The General Legal Council, the administrators of legal education in Ghana, had said students performed poorly, although calls for them to release students’ scripts were ignored.

The law students took to the streets to protest of how legal education is handled in the country following the mass failure.

The demonstration with the hashtag #OpenUpLegalEducation, started at the Ghana School of Law in Makola at the heart of the capital to the Jubilee House where the protesters presented a petition to President Akufo-Addo.

Mr  Iddrisu said the NDC flagbearer John Mahama will not only revamp legal education but will also help increase paralegals in the country.

“This is so that they make a meaningful contribution to our national development,” he added.