Abolish archaic legal education system; overhaul General Legal Council – Former AG Betty Mould Iddrisu

Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Betty Mould Iddrisu has described laws governing legal education in Ghana as archaic, unproductive and needs an immediate review.
Mrs Mould Iddrisu says she supports the call for the general overhaul of the governing body, the General Legal Council whose actions seem to block opportunities instead of expanding access.
Speaking to Eric Ahianyo on TV XYZ current affairs programme, IDEAS Exchange the former Attorney General said she is shocked about recent developments including exam leakages and attempts to suppress persons seeking legal education.
“A lot has shocked me about the general legal education system. Not the personalities involved but the archaic nature of Ghana’s legal education. We need t move forward. It is based on old antiquated UK regulations and rules that don’t have any relevance to us in Ghana today”…. She emphasized.
She noted that under her ternure as Attorney General, two additional law training schools were established and that could have been sustained to open up access.
“Up till now I don’t understand it. I don’t see why legal education in Ghana cannot be like in America where you sit series of exams either through electronic means or any other….”if you know the frustration of the law students, your heart will break. They speak to me all the time” …Mrs Iddrisu who is a lecturer at the Law Faculty of the University of Ghana lamented.
Sounding sarcastic she said, many students who have been denied access are not pursuing law in other countries including the Gambia, a country which depended on Ghana for Judges and lawyers few years ago.
“ it cant continue like this. I just heard about exam leakage, I can’t believe it. It is the rotten system that breeds this” …She added.
Betty Nah-Akuyea Mould-Iddrisu, a former Minister for Education served as Attorney General and Minister for Justice of Ghana from 2009 to 2011.
In 2003, Mould-Iddrisu was appointed the Director of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, an inter-governmental organisation comprising 53 member states based in London.
Some of the highlights of her time at the Secretariat include overseeing implementation of mandates in the area of transnational crime, counter terrorism and international humanitarian law.
She oversaw the implementation of the Secretariats programmes on anti-corruption, asset recovery and judicial ethics.