The National Association of Law Students (NALS) has reacted to Attorney General Godfred Dame’s remarks that practising law is a privilege and not a right.

In an interview, a leader of the Association, Asare Hassan, described the comments as “unfortunate”.

According to him, the Attorney General’s statements expose the indifferent posture of the General Legal Council to admit the 499 students who were unfairly denied admission to the Ghana Law School.

“They think that it is so much of a privilege than a right. That is why they have denied 499 students who have passed an exam the right to go to school and possibly become lawyers,” he told on Thursday.

Amidst the growing calls for the expansion of Ghana’s legal education, Godfred Dame, at an induction ceremony of new executives of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) earlier this week, retorted that practising law in the country is a privilege, not a right.

But in a response on Accra-based Citi News, Mr Hassan said the Attorney General contradicts the supreme laws of the land.

“Article 25 actually provides that persons shall have the right to equal education. You read [Article 17], and it also says do not discriminate.”

“To say it is a privilege to become a lawyer means that it is some special right which indeed does not exist. I have not seen it anywhere in our laws, neither have I seen it anywhere as a written document,” he added.

Concerns about the legal education system resurfaced after the 2021 Law School Entrance Exams saw only 790 out of the 2,824 candidates pass to gain admission into the professional school.

The pass mark for the entrance exams has always been 50% in both sections, but the rule was changed for this year’s exams. After that, candidates had to score at least 50% in both sections.

And this did not sit well with most of the applicants. They complained that they were not informed before the examination.

Critics have accused the General Legal Council of deliberately restricting people from gaining access to legal education.

As a result of these concerns, the Madina MP, Francis-Xavier Sosu, and the South Dayi MP, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, are currently pushing for a Private Member’s Bill to amend the Legal Professions Act, 1960, Act 32.

The bill will, among other things, seek to amend Act 32 to exclude the Chief Justice and other Justices of the Supreme Court from the General Legal Council and redefine its functions.