Minority leader in Parliament Haruna Iddrisu says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) if voted into power will expand access to legal education in the country.

Speaking at the party’s manifesto launch, Monday, he stated that the government will review and give accreditation to “certified law faculties across the country.”

This, he explained will increase the number of professional lawyers in the country.

According to him, the decision is being taken after the Flagbearer John Mahama noticed many students have been “denied the opportunity” to study law.

His comments come after law students in 2019 raised objections to how legal education is being handled in the country.

In April 2019, Parliament asked the General Legal Council (GLC) to re-open the period for re-marking of 2017/2018 examination scripts so students who failed can take advantage of it.

This followed a petition to parliament by the SRC after more than 80% of the students who wrote the entrance exams in 2018 failed.

Shortly after in late September, it was announced that only 128 students representing 7% out of the 1,820 candidates who sat for 2019 entrance law exams, passed to be admitted.

The General Legal Council, the administrators of legal education in Ghana, had said students performed poorly, although calls for them to release students’ scripts were ignored.

The law students took to the streets to protest of how legal education is handled in the country following the mass failure.

The demonstration with the hashtag #OpenUpLegalEducation, started at the Law School in Makola at the heart of the capital to the Jubilee House where the protesters presented a petition to President Akufo-Addo.

Mr Haruna Iddrisu said the NDC flagbearer John Mahama will not only revamp the legal education sphere but also help increase paralegals in the country.

“This is so that they make a meaningful contribution to our national development,” he added.