'Ghana is now training lawyers illegally' — Former Bar president

Former President of the Ghana Bar Association, Yaw Acheampong Boafo, says Ghana is currently training lawyers illegally under the new reforms.

According to him, people outside the system with little knowledge pushed for reforms in the legal education.

He indicated that the people who pushed for the reforms made those within the system enemies of the system and sidelined them.

“Currently, we are training lawyers contrary to the law. It is not about disagreement with the current system. You can do the right thing the wrong way. The push for reforms came from people outside the system, and they made those within the system enemies of the process.

"So today we have a situation where a law has been passed; a statutory body has been created, not established, but the Chief Justice and Attorney General have assumed the power of that body that has not been established. Created a pre-bar course, accredited institutions illegally.

"Now, when we start training lawyers illegally, what we’ve told them is that it is convenient for you to displace law. It is because those who were pushing were outside the system and they felt that they knew the system more than us. Those within the system were seen as enemies of the state. So when the law was being reformed, those in the system were sidelined and people sitting in Florida woke up one morning and, writing in big English, were telling us how to run the system,” he said.