Tsatsu Tsikata, Paul A Otchere and other legal highlights

Paul Adom Otchere And Matters Arising

This week it was reported that Ghanaian broadcaster and television host, Paul Adom Otchere, had been invited the by the Office of the Special Prosecutor in connection with a revenue assurance contract between Ghana Airport Company and a private firm.

It was further reported that in the aftermath of the preliminary questionings or interrogations, it was demanded as part of the bail condition for Mr. Adom Otchere to post bail with properties registered in his name which  he did not have.

The OSP howver subsequently reconsidered the earlier bail conditions- apparently following some reasonable public outcry- and revised same which alllowed  the Jospong Group of Companies to act as surety.

Whiles the revised conditions of bail is welcome development, the point should made be that for public institutions such as the OSP, who have been given statutory powers of arrest, detention and bail, the exercise of such discretionary powers must be seen to be fair and just and that bail conditions should not be excessive and unrealistic to amount to a refusal of bail or as a punishment, which fly in the face of the fundamental principles in the grant of bail.

Makola Must Go

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, has announced plans by the government to abolish the current centralised admissions system of the Ghana School of Law.

In place of that, he stated that, all universities running the LLB programme will  run an additional one-year practical programme for their students as part of the qualification for the professional law course program.

After that process, students will be made to write a new national bar examination to qualify for admission to the Ghana Bar.

This development has naturally gotten tongues in the legal circles wagging about the novel proposal from the Honourable Attorney-General. Of course, this development could not have come as a surprise in the light of recent challenges relative to the admissions into the Ghana School of Law and the persistent clamoring for a more comprehensive and fair system and regime in the admission into the Ghana Law School.

Critics have urged for caution in the implementation of such a policy as they entertain a fear that such a move would lead to the proliferation of law faculties that could harm standards in legal education and training and ultimately affect the quality of law graduates.

It is hoped tthat the government and other key stakeholders in the legal education would work together to address these concerns and come out with legislation that would ensure that a more liberal and expanded system of legal education in Ghana which does not compromise quality and merit.  

Tsatsu Is 50 Year At The Bar!

One of Ghana’s finest legal brains, Lawyer TSATSU TSIKATA, is 50 years at the Bar.

As momentous as it is, it is also a celebration and acknowledgement of one of the most distinguished and brilliant lawyers to have adorned the legal robes and stridden into our courtrooms .

His has been a long, stellar and storied legal career spanning stints in public service, as a law lecturer and a private legal practitioner, his life and works undoubtedly embody  and encapsulate what the law profession is all about: Integrity, justice, industry, perseverance, professionalism and scholarship.

Lawyer TSATSU TSIKATA has been one of Ghana’s finest. A brilliant lawyer. An elegant and intelligent advocate, with a strong and commanding presence in the courtroom.

He has been a mentor to many, having trained and raised some of the finest members of the Bar and some of the past and current Superior Court Justices.

Suffice it to mention that Lawyer TSATSU TSIKATA deserves a prominent  place in the pantheon of law practitioners in Ghana!

Congratulations! Woe w) d)!