Ansa-Asare drags c’ttee to court

The embattled Director of the Ghana School of Law (GSL), Mr. Kwaku Ansa-Asare, has filed a suit at the High Court, seeking an order to prevent the members of the committee set up to investigate him, from continuing to do so. In his motion, to be moved on Wednesday, September 21, 2005, the GSL director is praying the court for an order of prohibition, to prohibit the five (5) members of the ministerial committee from sitting as a committee appointed by the General Legal Council (GLC).

The writ is supported by a forty-seven-paragraphed affidavit.

Mr. Ansa-Asare avers that the right of equal treatment had not been given to him, against the constitutional requirement for non-discrimination before the law.

Meanwhile, at yesterday's sitting of the committee, a lecturer at the GSL, Mr. Albert Adaare told the committee probing that the ¢15 million school fees charged by the law school was illegal.

He challenged that the Legislative Instrument (LI) 12, had fixed the school fees as: tuition fee, 3000, registration fee, 100, examination, 100, admission and teaching materials, 200, and that the director had no right to increase school fees to the tune of ¢15 million.

Mr. Adaare told the committee that the best thing for the director to have done was to write a memorandum to the GLC to amend the LI or call for its conversion to increase school fees from ¢5m to ¢12m to ¢13.8m and finally ¢15m.

He said the use of the monies generated from the school had its intended purposes under the LI and was shocked that the Chief accountant, Mr. Byran Wuttor said the director and the lecturers had agreed to use monies generated from the school to purchase staff bungalows at Achimota, Dome from the State Insurance Corporation (SIC).

According to the witness, the school fees of students pursuing criminal law was different from that of students offering the professional law course and the post-call was provided under the LI. Therefore, it was not in the power of the director to, by word of mouth to the GLC have the school fees increased.

He said on a number of occasions, he overheard the director telling students, “I will not increase the school fees, don't worry,' and accused him of acting ultra vires.

Mr. Adaare told the committee that his promotion and that of Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, still hung in the balance, with no recommendation from the director, and prayed the committee to set up a promotions committee, comprising the lecturers and members of the GLC.

Mr. Adaare said some lawyers had approached him to send the matter to court since the school fees paid were not used for their intended purpose.