Plan to clear Chief Justice out of legal education unveiled

The Chief campaigner for reform in Ghana’s legal education system has unveiled a proposal to replace
the country’s ‘archaic’, ‘outmoded’ and ‘wasteful’ methods for churning out lawyers.

Prof. Asare has proposed the complete scrapping of the Ghana Legal Council, a body the supervises
legal education and which is stashed with Supreme Court judges and chaired by the judiciary’s
supremo, Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo.

Prof. Asare who has been battling regulators in legal education since 2015 explained, the system is
controlled by entrenched regulators who resist change.

Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare says the regulators and stakeholders have “woefully failed to deploy
technology to promote efficient delivery of so-called professional [legal] education.”

To be called to the bar, an LLB student must obtain admission to Ghana School of Law for two
years and pass a final exams.

If a student fails three of 10 courses, the entire course must be repeated. Grade C is rated failure. A
student is required to pay 3,000 cedis to have a paper remarked.

The failure rates at Ghana Law School has been staggering. In May 2019, results showed out of the
525 students who sat the exam, only 64 passed. In the 2017 exams, the failure rate was 81%.

Prof. Asare predicts the 2019 failure rates will keep to the previous script of wide scale let-downs.

‘It is like Accra floods’, he compared it to the constant flooding of the capital every rainy season.

No other professional body in Ghana requires students to undergo what students say is a strenuous
procedure that tries to keep more out and let a few in.

Some regulators have pointed to weak attention and effort of the students. But Prof. Azar has
noted, arrogant regulators are at the heart of the problem.

But challenging these regulators, an occupation of Prof. Asare has been ‘uncomfortable’, he said on
the Joy FM Super Morning Show Tuesday.

He would sue the General Legal Council only to find its members or its allies siting on his case in
court.

Continuing with his relentless campaign for the liberalisation of legal education which has included
going to the Supreme Court, he has proposed a 15-member body whose duty will be to conduct bar
exams for any LLB holder.

There would be no need to go through the Ghana School of Law which routinely denies admission
on the grounds of limited space.

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He said like accountants, doctors, nurses and other professionals, once you have the required
academic certificate use sit a professional exam.

The 15-member body must have no judge and critically must have no Chief Justice as member, the
reform activist explained.

The body, he said, must have ‘scholarly’ members with a proven “affirmative” in promoting legal
education.

There is a GLC-backed Independent Examination Committee that conducts the bar exams for
students but Prof. Asare denounced this committee as a “huge” problem to the law school crisis.

The committee was involved an exam leakage scandal in 2018, he said.

It also engages in “unusual examination practice” by asking students to chose any four of five
questions only to add that four of the questions are compulsory.

He also lamented a “misguided character reference” procedure that requires students to get
endorsements from experienced lawyers.

Prof. Asare said some 80 students who once challenged their grades and asked for remarking passed
and this shows the marking scheme is problematic.

The lawyer observed that “cost of legal education, student attrition rate, duration of education,
stakeholders dissatisfaction all unacceptably high because failed to adapt.”

Rating Govt appointees not popularity contest- Prof Kwaku Azar

A US-based Ghanaian scholar, Prof. Stephen Kwaku Asare has argued against using perception-
based surveys to rate the performance of government appointees.

“We need more evidence. Perception surveys are not enough,” he said on Joy FM Tuesday.

The Chartered accountant who is also a lawyer was speaking on the back of a recent survey which
has said that the National Democratic Congress Members of Parliament have outperformed their
colleagues in the New Patriotic Party.

That survey conducted by the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana was based
on public perceptions of the work of Members of parliaments.

Explaining the research, Senior Lecturer and head of the research team, Dr. Isaac Owusu-Mensah,
said the research is aimed at seeking the views of electorates about their MPs performances. Glean
the full survey here

But Prof. Asare has discounted this approached, claiming it is inadequate.

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Perception gives an idea of the public’s evaluation of the work of their officials. But this is not
enough to fully judge their competence or otherwise.

According to him, it will require an objective parameter to assess the performance of government
officers and their work.

This objective parameter he argues must include the performance indicators the government has
given to its appointees.

As a result, Prof. Asare has encouraged researchers and those who seek to evaluate public officers to
seek information from the Minister of Monitoring to be furnished with performance targets of
government appointees.

Alternatively, he suggested that the Minister for Monitoring must periodically publish assessment his
office has done on government appointees to apprise the public on their performance or
otherwise.

According to Prof. Asare, should the minister [which minister] fail in this regard, his own
competence must be questioned.

AOn his own assessingment of the performance of government appointees, the scholar said said he
his he cannot be objective because he has not done any studies on the matter.

Nonetheless Prof Asare said expected more from them given the over 100 persons appointed he
expected more from them.large numbers involved but this remains subjective analysis given that he
has not done am empirical studies on their output.

“However, to the extent that the president who appointed them has not seen the need to change
many of his ministers, the assumption is that ministers have performed to his satisfaction” said by
who?.

This is true because according to him the president is the appointing officer and has what it takes to
know who is performing or not. He said.

Narrowing the conversation to the performance of the Special Prosecutor, Prof Asare said that he
does not expect much from that office given that the underlining factors which militate against the
prosecution of corruption in the country have not been removed.

Theise factors, he argued, are underfunding, limited lawyers and and lack of experts attached to the
Office hands as well asnd the the country’s slow judicial process.

According to him, if these factors which were offsetting the Attorney- General’s office had been
addressed, there would not have been the need to create the office of the special prosecutor.

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Because what the Special Prosecutor does could have been done by the Director of Public
Prosecutions with supervision from the office of the Attorney General.

He believes saysthat the fact that after one year, only one case is being prosecuted by the Ooffice of
the Special Prosecutor illustrates the point that the underline issues affecting prosecution have not
been addressed.

This is notwithstanding the fact that every new office requires time to set up and to fully become
operational.

He has, however, advised the Special Prosecutor not to focus in prosecuting only members of the
opposition as that Ooffice was created because the office of the A.G was lethargic when it came to
prosecuting members of the government.

“If you have a special prosecutor focusing on only opposition elements I see that as a failure,” he
argued.

CHRAJ directed to find Freddie Blay, serve him court documents

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has been directed by an
Accra High Court to find the New Patriotic Party’s National Chairman, Freddy Blay, and serve him
with documents relating to investigations into the procurement of some buses.

CHRAJ is investigating allegations of corruption against Freddie Blay in the purchase of 275 buses for
the governing party in the lead up to the NPP’s National Delegates’ Conference contest last year
following a petition from the Coalition for Social Justice.

Mr. Blay has shot down claims that the buses were procured to influence delegates ahead of the
NPP’shis the Conference that took place in the Eastern regional capital, Koforidua.

He then said the party secured a bank facility to purchase the buses which he claims will be managed
by transport company STC.

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Mr Blay said the buses were purchased with a bank loan

But the Coalition for Social Justice in their petition stated that the purchase of the buses amounted to
vote buying and a case of corruption which must be probed by CHRAJ.

CHRAJ in investigating the matter wrote to Mr. Blay two months ago and requesting a response to
the substance of the petition against him.

The Commission also asked him to produce the custom declarations forms and other forms covering
duties paid for the vehicles.

This information, according to CHRAJ, was needed so they could proceed with the probe which is
standard procedure.

However, CHRAJ says neither Mr Blay nor his lawyers have responded to their request compelling it
to file an application seeking to commit the politician for contempt.

100 of the buses were cleared at the port last year

The Commission told the court Mr Blay has refused to respond to a petition filed against him by the
Coalition of Social Justice and wants a custodial sentence to be imposed on him.

Lawyers for CHRAJ said they have, so far, sent the documents to the NPP Headquarters and offices
of the Daily Guide newspaper – which is owned by Mr Blay - but have yet to obtain a response from
the NPP chairman.

The court presided over by Justice George Koomson however directed that CHRAJ attempts
reaching Mr Blay at his private residence.

The case has been adjourned to June 25.

Special Prosecutor met Parliament prior to Ayariga’s court appearance -Amidu

The Special Prosecutor has revealed that he met Parliament at the instance of the Speaker, Prof.
Aaron Mike Ocquaye prior to Bawku Central’s court appearance.

In a statement issued Thursday Martin Amidu said the meeting which happened on June 3, 2019,
was in discussions over Hon. Mahama Ayariga, a 1 st Accused person whose case was pending for
hearing (arraignment) on 4th June 2019 pursuant to a Case List issued by the High Court, Accra.

According to the Special Prosecutor, he made it clear to the meeting that “the determination of the
days on which the court will conduct the trial was entirely for the Court to decide and not for the

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Special Prosecutor to compromise in a private meeting with the Leadership of Parliament,” Martin
Amidu wrote.

He added that “provisions of the Constitution referred to by the Rt. Hon. Speaker in his invitation
letter and submission at the meeting were applicable to Members of Parliament charged as accused
persons for the crimes of corruption and put before a Court of competent jurisdiction for trial.”

Martin Amidu has, therefore, reminded both the Executive and Parliament of their Constitutional
and legal duty to respect the independence and impartiality of the Office of the Special Prosecutor
as promised to the electorate in the 2016 elections.

“Any appearance of bi-partisan mounting of pressure on the decision-making process of the Office
of the Special Prosecutor sends a wrong signal not only to the citizens of Ghana but also to the
international community to whom the appearance was given that all citizens are willing to equally
submit to investigation and prosecution for suspected corruption and corruption-related offences,”
he said.

The full statement is reproduced below.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR THE OFFICE OF
THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR HAS NO TALL LIST OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FOR
POSSIBLE PROSECUTION

Silence, they say, is golden. But there is also the saying that in normal social and administrative
interaction “silence means consent except in the law of contract”.

The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader, the Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, is
reported in a publication on Ghana Web of 5th June 2019 to have said in an interview on Okay
FM’s Ade Akye Abia, as paraphrased by the report, that: “…. Parliament through the Special
Prosecutor has received a tall list of parliamentarians, both NDC and NPP members who will be
facing possible prosecution by the SP for various offences.”

The Office of the Special Prosecutor wishes for the purpose of transparency and accountability to
state unequivocally that the Office has not submitted any tall list of parliamentarians from both the
NDC and the NPP to the Leadership of Parliament as the list of parliamentarians or “members who
will face possible prosecution by the SP for various offences.”

The Office of the Special Prosecutor has from time to time made written requests to the Rt. Hon.
Speaker to release named Members of Parliament to assist it in conducting investigation into
allegations of the suspected commission of corruption and corruption-related offences.

Apart from the Hon. Mahama Ayariga, who is a 1 st Accused in a pending case filed in the High
Court and therefore facing possible prosecution, the Office has not made any decision whether or
not to charge any other Member of Parliament for a corruption offence let alone for such member
to

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face possible prosecution by this Office. Should there be any bi-partisan agenda for publishing such
untruths the public should be told upfront and boldly of their intentions and not through
subterfuge.

About eight (8) other Members of Parliament from the NDC and the NPP, aside from the Hon.
Mahama Ayariga, have been invited and released by Mr. Speaker for statements to be taken from
them for suspected corruption and corruption-related offences. The investigators have not
submitted any investigation dockets or recommended to the Special Prosecutor whether or not they
ought to be charged with any corruption offences.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor wishes to state that nine out of 275 Members of Parliament
cannot by any acceptable use of the English language be said to be a tall list even for the purposes of
an invitation to release Members of Parliament to assist the investigation of corruption offences.
The records must, therefore, be set right by not remaining silent and lend credence to the falsehood
that there is a tall list from the Special Prosecutor of “members who will be facing possible
prosecution by the SP for various offences.”

The Office of the Special Prosecutor shall, particularly, under the present first Special Prosecutor
continue to invite members of both the Executive and Parliament without fear or favour, affection
or ill will, to assist the Office in investigating the suspected commission of corruption and
corruption-offices or as witnesses in such cases as required by the mandate of the Office.

When the list gets tall it will mean that the stables of corruption are getting very dirty and smelly and
need to be cleared vigorously to excise the canker as demanded by the electorate at the 2016
Elections and actualized by His Excellency the President and Parliament. The Office has no
evidence of such a tall list yet.

It is true as disclosed in the interview by the Minister and Majority Leader who is a dual member of
the Executive and the Legislature, that the Leadership of Parliament engaged the Office of the
Special Prosecutor, represented by the Special Prosecutor and the Deputy Special Prosecutor, in the
morning of 3 rd June 2019 in discussions over Hon. Mahama Ayariga, a 1 st Accused person whose
case was pending for hearing (arraignment) on 4th June 2019 pursuant to a Cause List issued by the
High Court, Accra.

The invitation by the Rt. Hon Speaker to the Special Prosecutor for the discussion was dated 31 st
May 2019 and received in the evening of the same day and has reference number
OP/SPKR/19/030 and is not a classified document.

The Special Prosecutor made it clear at the discussions with the Leadership of Parliament that no
provisions of the Constitution referred to by the Rt. Hon. Speaker in his invitation letter and
submission at the meeting were applicable to Members of Parliament charged as accused persons
for the crimes of corruption and put before a Court of competent jurisdiction for trial.

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The determination of the days on which the trial criminal court will conduct the trial was entirely for
the Court to decide and not for the Special Prosecutor to compromise in a private meeting with the
Leadership of Parliament.

The Special Prosecutor stated clearly that the Office will abide by any decision rendered by the
Courts on the matter but will not in a side meeting with the Leadership of Parliament agree, in
advance, not to oppose such an application when raised by lawyers for the accused persons in Court
simply because of their membership of Parliament. The Rt. Hon. Speaker’s certificate on immunities
and privileges to the Court on 4th June 2019 was issued after the engagement of this Office with
Parliament on 3 rd June 2019 and the results are well known.

The Executive and Parliament have a Constitutional and legal duty to respect the independence and
impartiality of the Office of the Special Prosecutor as promised to the electorate in the 2016
elections. Any appearance of a bi-partisan mounting of pressure on the decision making process of
the Office of the Special Prosecutor sends a wrong signal not only to the citizens of Ghana but also
to the international community to whom the appearance was given that all citizens are willing to
equally submit to investigation and prosecution for suspected corruption and corruption-related
offences.

The fight against suspected corruption has to be engaged in whole heartedly by every citizen and
with total commitment as enjoined by the Constitution. This is the time to move from lip service to
real action in the fight against corruption subject only to the due process of the law.

The Special Prosecutor wishes to assure the Ghanaian public whose votes actualized the Office that
he is not going to betray them and walk away from this job to satisfy any bi-partisan pressure.

The solution to gaining exception for Members of Parliament from investigation and possible
prosecution for suspected corruption offences is to get the first Special Prosecutor out of office in a
bi-partisan manner by impeachment or to allow the appropriate independent constitutional
institution to do so. It will not work to allege a bi-partisan tall list for possible prosecution of
parliamentarians when no such a tall list exists or has been submitted by the
Special Prosecutor’s Office to any office: it only enables the creation of an artificial bi-partisan
smoke screen for purposes of unduly delaying or running away from justice for a category of
suspects accused of the commission of corruption offences.

I’ve done worse things than releasing my nude pics – Christabel Ekeh reveals

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Actress Christabel Ekeh has revealed that she was at a loss as to why Ghanaians considered the
exposure of naked pictures as outrageous during her period of depression.

In 2017, she caused an uproar on social media after releasing nude photos of herself on social
media.

In an interview with Franky 5 on ‘This Gospel’ on Hitz FM, she disclosed that she felt she had
committed more despicable acts than releasing her naked pictures.

‘‘The real thing that was in my mind at that moment was like, why do people see nudity as a big
deal? If they know what I have done, the real things I have done is worse than nudity so it is
nothing…I felt it was nothing at all…,” she said.

Christabel Ekeh, however, indicated that she felt that way in the past because the devil kept
reminding her of her mistakes.

“I think that time I was just being guilt shamed by the enemy so like just do this. You are nothing
anymore because you are this, you are that…that is how I felt,” the actress disclosed.

Narrating her transformation from a depressed woman to one that had found a new life in Christ,
Christabel Ekeh said she travelled to Cotonou in Benin for a vacation with her new boyfriend to
escape her troubles in Ghana.

According to her, she met God in Benin even though the Churches in the country preached their
sermons in French, a language she did not understand.

She returned to Ghana shortly and attended Church services frequently but at a point, Christabel
Ekeh said she lost all hopes of living a new life.

The actress said that at that point of despair, she released her naked pictures on social media.

Christabel Ekeh added that she became conscious of her actions and rededicated her life to God
when Ebony Reigns passed away.

She felt she could have lived a better life to positively influence young girls like the late Ebony
Reigns.