Godfred Yeboah Dame
The Office of the Attorney General has stated that the 499 potential law students who have filed a suit against the Ghana School of Law and the General Legal Council (GLC) have no basis to do so because they did not pass the entrance examination which guarantees them admission.
The AG in an affidavit in opposition to the suit filed by the applicant indicated that no irreparable damage will be done to the potential students if the court refuses to grant their application for interlocutory injunction.
“The applicants have failed to particularise the irreparable damage that will be done if they are not granted admission, especially when the law school is still in existence and running the law course. No irreparable damage will be done to the applicants since they did not pass the Ghana School of Law entrance examination,” the affidavit sworn to by Gyamfuaa Mac-Owoo, a State Attorney, averred.
Main Suit
The applicants are in court seeking the enforcement of their fundamental human rights, what they call a retrospective application of a law which denies them the right to be admitted into the Ghana School of Law, and called it discrimination.
The applicants are part of the a group of LLB graduates who sat for the 2021 Ghana School of Law entrance examination but could not be admitted although they said they had passed the exams.
According to the applicants, the GLC is changing its position and trying to retrospectively apply a law which states that the 50 per cent pass mark is made up of 50 per cent pass in Section A and a 50 per cent pass in Section B, which violates certain portions of the 1992 Constitution.
They are therefore, seeking a declaration by the court that the GLC declaring them as having failed the exams despite meeting the 50 per cent threshold violates Articles 17, 23 and 25 of the 1992 Constitution.
They are seeking an order of mandamus to compel the GLC to admit them into the Ghana School of Law for the Professional Law Course.
Affidavit In Opposition
But the AG’s Department in its affidavit in apposition averred that the candidates who passed the 2021 entrance examination have been duly issued with instructions for their enrolment into the Ghana School of Law, which has not and will not cause irreparable damage to the applicants who are trying to enter the school.
It denied the allegation by the applicants that the GLC was trying to retrospectively apply a new rule governing the admission process, arguing that the minimum of 50% each in both Section A and Section B had been applied in previous entrance examinations and not a new rule.
“The candidates who were genuinely interested in gaining admission to the Professional Law Course of the Ghana School of Law did not make ‘wayside’ inquiries about the requirements for admission to the Professional Law Course at the time the 1st respondent (GLC) had published the requisite instructions to prospective candidates in the Daily Graphic.”
It further averred that GLC did not inform applicants that the pass mark for the entrance examination was 50%, adding that it will be unjust for the court to compel the GLC to admit candidates who did not meet the minimum threshold for minimum mark set by the GLC.
It said the GLC has not unjustifiably denied any candidate who passed the entrance examination admission to the Ghana School of Law, adding that “had the applicants passed the examination they would have been admitted.”
The affidavit in opposition further averred that the Attorney General has not failed to exercise his statutory powers on the GLC as there has not been any breach of the 1992 Constitution, arguing that “if there had been any breach of the Constitution, the 2nd respondent (AG) would have called out the 1st respondent (GLC) without being prompted to do so.”
It is therefore, urging the court to dismiss the application for being frivolous and vexatious.
Hearing of the case has been set for November 19, 2021.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak