Legal luminary and former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Samuel Awuku Okudzeto, has bemoaned Parliament’s failure to consult the Association before passing the Legal Education Bill, 2025.
He says the Bill which was passed by Parliament last week brings major reforms that directly affects the GBA, and shouldn’t have been sidelined in that regard.
The passage of the Bill ends the Ghana School of Law’s monopoly and now gives room for accredited universities to offer professional legal training. Also, the Bill establishes a Council for Legal Education and Training to regulate the system and oversee a new national bar examination framework.
However, lawyer Okudzeto says ignoring the very Association that the Bill directly affects in the legislation process is not the way to go.
“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 on JoyNews on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
According to him, the nature of the reforms needed the GBA’s direct input. “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 added.
The renowned lawyer stressed the nationwide scope of the Association and the need to have had its leadership consulted in such a critical reform that directly bothers on their profession.
“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 said.
Lawyer Okudzeto alleged that an attempt was made to engage the Legislature on the Bill but did not get the opportunity.
“And yet nothing was referred to us. I think an application was made to Parliament for us to have an interview with the council, and it was never fulfilled,” he noted.
He said the Association only became aware of the development after the law had already been passed.
“We now heard that the law had been passed, so that’s a serious matter,” he stated.
Mr. Okudzeto admonished Parliament to consult professional bodies when legislating on matters that directly affect them.
“More so, 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 said.
Parliament passes Legal Education Bill to reform training, expand access
