Governance Lecturer at the Central University, Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah, has taken a swipe at the General Legal Council, a body responsible for admissions into the Ghana School of Law, over their recent communiqué.
The General Legal Council reportedly asked students to sign an undertaking which states categorically that they cannot request remarking of their exam papers and/or review of their marks.
Parts of the undertaking read; “The General Legal Council (GLC) has over the years established credible, rigorous and well-benchmarked systems and procedures for assessing answer booklets and re-checking of same for all candidates before examination results are released."
It continued that, "the decision of the General Legal Council in respect of the published results of the Entrance Examination shall be final. No request for re-marking of scripts, re-tallying of scores or review or marks shall be accepted. Candidates cannot also request to see their marked answer scripts or the marking schemes used for marking the questions."
The Council further added; “In view of the above, I undertake to accept without question, the decision of the General Legal Council in respect of the published results of the Entrance Examination as final.”
But Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah is extremely unhappy with the General Legal Council's rules and in strong words, warned the Council to backtrack on this decision.
He noted that providing no flexible room for prospective students of law to enter the Ghana School of Law and ordering them not to request remarking of their exam scripts including the other directives is sheer "wickedness".
"Will an occultic group even do this? . . . Is the General Legal Council teaching law or practicing law? I don't get it! General Legal Council, the highest decision-making body, and you can really pen these things down that no one can request a remarking after writing their exams and that if we don't admit you, you can't go to court; it means you are wicked!!" he exclaimed.
The lecturer also snapped at the intentional decision to curtail the inflow of people who want to learn and practice law into the Ghana School of Law under the notion that the law profession must have a small group of people, therefore inspiring the Legal Council to place artificial bottlenecks to discourage those who want to practice law.
"What they are doing is wrong. They are setting a very bad precedent ... stop those things you are doing. You are humans, maybe we will call you 'My Lord, My Lord' because of the law but you are humans like us. It's the country that's given you power; you were not born with it. Stop what you are doing; it's not nice. You can go to hell. Please, what you are doing is not right. The General Legal Council must act and act right.
"Did they build the school? Who among them can tell us they contributed even a bag of cement to construct the school? Who can tell us they generated capital to remunerate the teachers? The school is not theirs. It is for all of us, for public good. They should give us a break!", Dr. Otchere-Ankrah fumed while speaking on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo".
To him, opportunity should be created for all eligible persons to write the entrance exams and those who performed better gain admission without fear or favor.
