The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has brushed off claims that his office has drafted a new Legal Profession bill.
Mr. Yeboah Dame also stated unequivocally that no such bill has been laid before Parliament for consideration.
“May I take this opportunity to disclose that I have not come up with any Legal Profession Bill. In point of fact, there has not been any Legal Profession Bill drafted by the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice this year,” Mr. Yeboah Dame said.
“No approval has been sort by me from Cabinet for a Legal Profession Bill to be sent to Parliament and for that matter no Legal Profession Bill has been submitted to Parliament,” he argued.
He remarked while speaking at the opening of an international conference on the Future of Legal Education in Ghana and Africa.
Mr. Dame explained that the said document was merely attached to an opinion he made to the General Legal Council with a call on the Council to initiate broad consultations on the subject.
“To my utter surprise, I saw a document being spread around social media and mass media as the Attorney General’s legal profession Bill. Before I realized, various persons of high rank in society including Senior lawyers rushed to the media to make all manner of comments casting aspersions at the integrity of the office of the Attorney General without spending a split second to verify the information.”
“I want to state emphatically that I have not come up with any legal profession bill. No approval had been sought by me from the cabinet for such. Even the most basic step to be taken as part of the process, stakeholder engagement, has not been done.”
Godfred Yeboah Dame further expressed concern over the poor quality of teaching at various law faculties in the country.
Meanwhile, a former Attorney General, Dominic Ayine, who is one of three Members of Parliament set to file a private members’ bill seeking to address challenges associated with legal education in Ghana said although he was surprised by the Attorney General’s disclosure, he was satisfied with the clarification by his colleague.
He, however, said he and the other MPs will still pursue the private member’s motion for a radical reform to legal education in the country.
The other sponsors of the private members’ motion are; Okaikoi Central lawmaker, Patrick Boamah and Member of Parliament for Asawase, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak.
By: Bernard Ralph Adams | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
