•He says the government should not have announced they will admit only 550 students out of over 2000 students who wrote the exams
• The aggrieved 499 law students who were denied admission have petitioned Akufo-Addo to intervene
Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson Dafeamekpor, has said the government is to be blamed for the current scuffle between aggrieved 499 law students and the General Legal Council.
According to him, the government was wrong for saying it would only admit 550 students out of over 2000 applicants in the 2021 budget.
He questioned the basis on which government will premeditate that only 550 students out of over 2000 students would pass the exams.
Speaking on the Good Morning Ghana show he said “…Government itself appears to be the problem if I say government I mean the Executive. The government came to parliament early this year to present its budget and in this budget, government tells parliament that the general legal council will conduct entrance exams for purposes of admitting students in the law school, and the government says they expect them to admit 550 students.
“This is what the budget says. It says in 2021 the Ghana school of law will expect to conduct an entrance examination for 2200 applicants and admit 550 to the school of law while 450 students are expected to be called to the bar. The general legal council will deal with legal proceedings of the remaining 100. I mean, where does this happen. It is wrongful in law”.
He also described this as a deliberate attempt to deny students from receiving professional law training from the country.
“If you say out of over 2000 students you expect them to admit 550 it means you are passing student ahead of time. How are you able to determine applicants applying to write entrance exams only 550 will get the 50 percent mark? We are preventing people from receiving professional law training in this country. Otherwise, government ought to have been quiet about the number.”
Some aggrieved 499 law students who were denied admission, despite passing the 2021 Ghana School of Law entrance exam, and have asked the management of the Ghana Law School to reverse their decision.
Aside from that, the students have petitioned the Office of the President, to use his Executive authority to come to their aid.
“We are nonetheless confident that President Akufo-Addo, who, for all intent and purposes, has proven to be a renowned human right lawyer and freedom fighter, would rise to the occasion and do justice to our legitimate grievances.
"We appeal to the president, who also happens to be a member in permanent good standing at the bar, to cause his official Representative on the GLC, the Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame Esq, who is clothed with powers under the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (Act 32), to order the General Legal Council and for that matter the Ghana School of Law, to comply with their own rules of engagement and within the confines of the law, by admitting the remaining 499 candidates who passed the entrance exams. This, respectfully, is not too much to ask for, Your Excellency. It is the reason why we voted for you, and we humbly beseech you to do exactly that,” the statement said.
Over two thousand LLB candidates who sat for the 2020/2021 academic year Ghana School of Law 2021 Entrance Exams failed in the exams.
Students from the various law faculties across the country sat for the exam.
Only 790 of them passed representing approximately 28% while the failure represents 72%.
Out of the number, 499 students have questioned why they have been denied admission even though they passed the exams.
They have planned to embark on a demonstration tomorrow to address their displeasure.
Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi Constituency