Former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Sam Okudzeto, has criticised the process leading to the passage of the Legal Education Bill, 2025, saying the Association was sidelined in a major reform affecting the legal profession.

Parliament passed the bill last week, marking a significant shift in Ghana’s legal education system.

The legislation, now awaiting presidential assent, ends the Ghana School of Law's monopoly and allows accredited universities to provide professional legal training.

It also establishes a Council for Legal Education and Training to regulate the system and standardise curricula nationwide.

But speaking on Joy News' PM Express, Okudzeto said the exclusion of the Bar from the process raises serious concerns.

“I had one complaint in the first place when this bill was proposed, the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) was not involved at all, which I thought was rather strange,” he said.

He argued that the GBA, as the professional body representing lawyers across the country, should have been consulted before such a major decision.

“One would have thought that this matter should have been referred to the GBA for their input, because they are the members of the profession,” he noted.

Okudzeto stressed that the Association’s structure reflects nationwide representation, making its input critical in reforms of this scale.

“and it has a council, which is composed of regional presidents and a secretary from each of the regions who are all members of the council. And therefore you can see that it’s a body that is not Accra or Kumasi matter, it’s nationwide,” he explained.

Despite efforts to engage Parliament, he said the opportunity never materialised.

“I think an application was made to Parliament for us to have an interview with the council, and it was never fulfilled. We now heard that the law had been passed, so that’s a serious matter,” he said.

He maintained that professional bodies must be central to decisions affecting their fields.

“Moreso, my view is that when we are talking about a profession, it means that anytime parliament is confronted with an issue relating to a profession, Parliament should get the professional body to be involved,” he added.