Law lecturer at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and member of the NPP Legal Directorate, Ishaq Ibrahim, says forming a rival association to the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) risks deepening political divisions and weakening Ghana’s democracy.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Inside Pages on Saturday, September 27, the law lecturer acknowledged that the GBA is not perfect but argued that it should be reformed rather than abandoned.
“There are some areas I’m not satisfied, but that is not to say, because of that, let’s dismantle it or whatever. In everybody, there’s always room for improvement,” he told host Moro Awudu.
Ishaq Ibrahim’s comments follow discussions about the Ghana Law Society, a group formed in 2022 as an alternative professional body for lawyers.
Some of its members have accused the GBA of leaning toward a particular political party and failing to live up to its purpose.
“They perceive the Ghana Bar Association to be an NPP-controlled body,” Mr. Ibrahim said, adding that critics argue the association “loses its voice when NPP is in power.”
But he warned that creating a new body along partisan lines could worsen polarization.
“If the lawyers in the country are sharply divided, as this is an NDC association and this is NPP association, are you improving the system or you are dismantling the system? I believe that it can undermine our democracy,” he said.
He urged dissatisfied lawyers to participate in GBA leadership elections and push for reforms rather than walking away.
“If I were them, if you have this concern, why don’t you run for the leadership of the Ghana Bar Association and reform it? That is what you do. You don’t run away. You stay to fight and change the system for the better,” he advised.
Ishaq Ibrahim also addressed the ongoing debate about whether membership of the GBA is mandatory for lawyers, saying the association’s status makes it appear “either a constitutional body or a quasi-constitutional body,” especially since licence renewals are linked to membership.
He noted that while some people insist lawyers can renew their practising licence without belonging to the GBA, the process creates the impression that membership is required.
On the Chief Justice’s recent remarks about bar association membership, Ishaq Ibrahim said he did not find them problematic since “case law has already established that function is an administrative function” and falls within the CJ’s powers under the constitution.
