Ghana Bar Association

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Ghana Bar Association

Formation 1876; 146 years ago

Type Professional association

Purpose To promote legal professionalism

 Accra, Ghana
Location

Official language English

National President Yaw Boafo

Website www.ghanabar.org

The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) is a professional association of lawyers in Ghana,

including what used to be called solicitors and barristers but are now called legal
practitioners, as well as magistrates. By convention all lawyers admitted to practice in
Ghana become automatic members of the association. [1] The first president of the
Ghanaian Bar was Sierra Leonean lawyer Frans Dove.[2]

Contents

History and membership[edit]

The British parliament established the Supreme Court of Judicature for the Gold Coast
Colony in 1876, with a Chief Justice and no more than four Puisne Justices.[3] John
Mensah Sarbah was the first native of Ghana to be called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn in
1887. The legal system was based on that of England, in which solicitors provide legal
advice and prepare legal documents while barristers act as advocates in court.
However, this division was not observed in practice in Ghana, and in 1960 an act
abolished the distinction.[4] Until the Ghana School of Law was established in 1958, all
lawyers were trained abroad, almost always at the Inns of Court in England. As of 2011
there are about 2,500 practicing lawyers, although not all have registered as members
of the Bar Association.[5]
Even though the legal profession in The Gold Coast (now Ghana) can be traced to as
far back as 1846, the Ghana Bar Association as a body had its first constitution in 1958.
[6]

The current national president of the GBA is Yaw Boafo [7]

Some past presidents of the GBA include:

 Robert Samuel Blay (1957–1959) and (1960–1962)

 Archie Casely-Hayford (1959–1960)
 J. B. Danquah (1962–1963)
 Victor Owusu (acting 1963–1965) and (1965–1966)
 William Ofori-Atta (1966–1967)
 Joe Appiah (1967–1970)[8][9]
 Joe Reindorf (1970–1971)
 Edward Nathaniel Moore (1971–1972)
 J. B. Quashie-Idun (1972–1976)
 J. K. F. Adadevoh (1976–1979)
 W. A. N. Adumoah-Bossman (1979-1981)[10]
 E. D. Kom (1981–1982)
 J. K. Agyemang (1982–1985)
 Peter Ala Adjetey (1985–1989)
 Anthony K. Mmieh (1989–1992?)
 Nutifafa Kuenyehia (1992–95),[11]
 Sam Okudzeto(1995–98)[12]
 Joseph Ebow Quashie (1998-2001) [13]
 Paul Adu-Gyamfi (2001–?)[14]
 Solomon Kwame Tetteh[15]
 Nii Osah Mills (2007–08)[16][17]
 Frank Beecham (2009–12)[18]
 Nene A. O. Amegatcher (2012–2015)
 Benson Nutsukpui 2015–2018[19]
 Tony For son Jnr. 2018–2021
The Ghana Bar Association is a member of the International Bar Association.[20]

Controversy[edit]
In October 2010 then GBA Vice President, Mr. Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo, called on
the Chief Justice and the Council to eliminate inconsistency, corruption and misconduct
by judges.[21] In April 2011 then National President Frank W. K. Beecham spoke in
defence of Mr Justice E. K. Ayebi, a judge who had come under attack after acquitting
14 defendants in a murder trial.[22]
In July 2011 four lawyers made allegations of widespread corruption among judges. The
GBA condemned the four for making unsubstantiated claims, and asked them to name
the judges. Another lawyer openly confessed to having bribed a judge. The GBA said it
would take legal steps to prosecute him.[23] The four lawyers were blacklisted by the
Association of Magistrate