By Akosua Frema Frempong
Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), is hosting 61 universities from 17 African countries in the 32nd edition of the African Human Rights Moot Court.
KNUST derived its hosting rights by virtue of its status as the reigning Continental Champion of Legal Education and Courtroom Advocacy.
Speaking at the opening of the competition in Kumasi, a former Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, urged the competing students to strive to set higher standards in law studies to be able to tackle existing and emerging challenges confronting the African continent.
The Christof Heyns African Human Rights Moot Court is an annual competition that brings together students, scholars, and judges to discuss issues bothering human rights through moot court trials, with participating students playing the roles of complainants or defendants to argue their respective cases for the consideration of panel of professional judges as though they were arguing real cases at the African Court on Human and People’s Right.
It is named after a human rights lawyer who died in 2021, Christof Heyns. Ghana has hosted the continental event twice already, all in Accra. The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST, is therefore hosting the event for the first time outside any national capital.
The last edition held in 2022 was held in Cairo, Egypt, and saw KNUST’s team sweep all 10 available competitive awards. It is this feat that has given KNUST the opportunity to host this year’s Christof Heyns African Moot Court Competition, with 61 universities from 17 African countries taking part from September 3–9.
This year’s competition is on the theme “The Africa We Want: Sexual and Gender Minority Rights in Africa, Climate Change, and Corruption”.
Speaking at the opening of the competition, a former Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, urged the competing students to strive to set higher standards in law studies so as to be able to tackle existing and emerging challenges confronting the African continent.
“When there is an unjustifiable exclusion, when environmental degradation to satisfy parochial aims, or there is corruption that cuts across the entire fabric of human existence, then the outcomes cannot be desirable, and collectively, the Africa we want will continue to be unattainable. In the submissions that will be made here, let the participants bear in mind, however, that the Africa we want should be a place suited for us enshrining our core values such as family in this entity of life a lot merely cloned from outside influences. The Africa we want, however prosperous we envisage it to be, must be sustainable, with pristine forests, clean rivers and streams and clean, breathable air, not denuded dust bowls with poisonous water created by live for today policies and practises,” she explained.
The Paramount Chief of Asante Mampong, Daasebre Osei Bonsu, who represented Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, called for deliberation on practical ways to curb the Galamsey menace bedevilling Ghana.
“In Ghana, harmful practices such as illegal mining, locally termed as have been topical. As academic minds gather, I urge you to deliberate on practical ways to curb the menace which is inimical to our well-being. I want to assure you the resolve of Asanteman to assist government in fighting this canker and task the organisers to present a communiqué on the way forward with regards to illegal mining. I also want to suggest that selected traditional rulers should be invited to participate and be heard on their views of such topical human rights issues,” he maintained.
The President of the Ghana Bar Association, Mr. Yaw Boafo, described the African Human Rights Moot Court as a very good platform for law students to develop themselves towards professional legal practice in Ghana.
The Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Professor Mrs. Rita Dickson, declared the readiness of her Moot team to retain the feat chalked up last year.
“Our faculty of law is the current winner, of course, and the reigning continental champions of legal education and Courtroom advocacy. The faculty of law is poised to maintain this wonderful achievement it won in Cairo, Egypt. Indeed, we are very proud to host this year’s 32nd edition. KNUST hosting, though not Ghana’s first hosting opportunity, is the first to be hosted outside the capital city of Accra, and as a university, we deem it an honour to host this event. Overall, KNUST is hosting 61 law faculties drawn from 17 African countries,” she started.