499 students’ case: Parliament ordering GLC affront to separation of powers, says Ayikoi Otoo

Parliament on Friday (29 October) passed a resolution to compel the General Legal Council (GLC) to admit all the 499 aggrieved law students who obtained at least 50% in the entrance exams but had been denied admission to the Ghana School of Law.

Speaking to Nana Yaa Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (2 November), Otoo said: “… For the Legislature to order the Judiciary to do a particular act in my view does not respect the principle of separation of powers.”

“They can advise, as a resolution call on the Chief Justice to see to the resolution of the matter, but to order him to ensure that these students are indeed recruited into the school in my view does not lie in their purview.”

He added: “… The head of the judiciary under the constitution is the Chief Justice, and that body [GLC] is expected to be independent, so to order them to do an act which falls within their remit, you are in effect interfering in the way they do things.”

Otoo said the directive may not be feasible.

Lack of locus

Meanwhile, the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has told Parliament it does not have the power to direct him to make sure that the General Legal Council and the Ghana School of Law admit 499 LLB students who achieved the 50% pass mark.

Dame said Parliament’s powers are limited as far as admission into the Ghana School of Law is concerned.

“Respectfully, I am aware of a resolution passed by Parliament at its sitting on Friday 29 October 2021 in these terms: ‘… The General Legal Council is hereby directed to proceed and admit all the students who passed in accordance with the advertised rules of the examinations.. The Attorney General is the leader of the Bar in Ghana and he must see to it that the directive that 499 students who scored 50 marks are admitted is complied with.

“We do not want to get to contempt of Parliament issues. Whilst recognising the general legislative powers of Parliament in Ghana, except as have been circumscribed by the constitution, I am constrained to advise that Parliament is devoid of a power, through the use of parliamentary resolutions, to control the process of admission into the Ghana School of Law.”