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Law students petition former President Mahama after police brutality

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Hundreds of law students on Monday hit the streets of Accra on to demand reforms in the country’s legal education system.

The protest, dubbed:#OpenUpLegalEducation, was expected to end with the protesters marching to the Jubilee House to present a petition to President Nana Addo Dankw Akufo-Addo. However, the planned peaceful protest by the aggrieved law students turned violent.

The protestors were prevented from getting to the Jubilee House.

They subsequently presented the petition to President Mahama, the Ministry of Justice, the Ghana Bar Association and the Canadian Embassy.

Presenting their petition, the spokesperson of the demonstrators told Mr. Mahama: “We want to know what your plan is for this country, we know we’ve got to a point whereby we can not be using the 1958 modules in 2019. We have a detailed petition together with a power point presentation but they’ve been destroyed due to the force from the police”.

Former President, John Dramani Mahama receiving the petition, backed calls by  the aggrieved law students and their sympathizers for reforms in the country’s legal education system.

He expressed regrets at the treatment meted out to the students by the police as they embarked on a demonstration.

Mr. Mahama said he was ready to spearhead the conversation on reforms in the legal education system.

According to the former President,: “It just happens that by coincidence we had an interaction with the Ghana Bar Association this morning and we have embarked on a number of interactions with professional groups, civil society organizations, and faith-based organizations. Actually, the issue that you are concerned about came up in our discussion and we expressed our opinion and said that we are happy to open a conversation with regards to reforming the legal education system”.

“I expressed my regrets at the treatment that you have been subjected to, and to extend my sympathies to those who have been injured and the ones who have been put in detention. You are our children and as young people, as you are, I believe that everybody should have the opportunity to pursue the career of their dreams and all avenues should be opened to make it possible for young people to realize their full potential”. He told the demonstrators.

The demonstration was on the back of the recent failure recorded at the Ghana School of Law where only 128 students out of the 1,820 candidates who sat for this year’s entrance exams passed.

The NDC flagbearer in a meeting with the leadership of the Ghana Bar Association earlier on Monday, October 7, 2019, promised that his next administration will focus on increasing access to legal education without compromising quality and will definitely put in place the appropriate legal structures to increase intake, as reported by the National Democratic Congress’s official twitter handle

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