South Dayi MP, Others Drag GBA to Court

The Member of Parliament for South Dayi Constituency, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, is challenging the monopoly of the existing Ghana Bar Association (GBA), a professional association of lawyers.

They have dragged the Association and the Attorney General to the Supreme Court.

Together with Israel Tetteh and the Ghana Law Society, they are accusing the GBA of breaches of Articles 17 and 21(1)(e) and other provisions of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.

They are seeking a declaration by the Supreme Court to the effect that the references to the “Ghana Bar Association” in the Constitution and the first schedule of the Legal Profession Act 1960, Act 32 are not the same or not synonymous to the current “Ghana Bar Association,” which is a single private voluntary association of lawyers registered or existing under private law.

Below are the reliefs being sought by the plaintiffs:
1. A declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of Articles 153(f), 157(1)(c),
201(e), 204(1)(d), 166(1)(a)(i), 209(1)(d), 259(b)(ii), 261(c), and 206(e) of the 1992 Constitution, the references to the “Ghana Bar Association” in the Constitution and the first schedule of the Legal Profession Act 1960 Act 32 are not the same or not synonymous to the current “Ghana Bar Association,” which is a single private voluntary association of lawyers registered or existing under private law and that the constitutional reference to the “Ghana Bar Association” must be construed as referring to the umbrella of associations of lawyers in Ghana.

2 A declaration that the constitutional references to “Ghana Bar Association” in Articles 153(f), 157(1)(c), 201(e), 204(1)(d), 166(1)(a)(f), 209(1)(d), 259(b)(ii), 261(c), and 206(e) of the 1992 Constitution and references in the Legal Profession Act 1960 Act 32 cannot be construed to create or imply a monopoly for any one private association of lawyers, as such construction would be inconsistent with the spirit and letters of Articles 17 and 21(1)(c) of the 1992 Constitution which guarantees equality and freedom from discrimination and freedom of association.

3. A declaration that the name “Ghana Bar Association” in the Constitution and Legal Profession Act 1960 Act 32 must be construed as a generic or umbrella designation for associations of lawyers in Ghana, and cannot be interpreted as conferring exclusive constitutional identity, rights or privileges on the current “Ghana Bar Association” (the 2%d Defendant), which is a private voluntary association of lawyers, as such interpretation would offend Articles 17 and 21(1)(e).

4. A declaration that any conferment of constitutional powers, rights, roles or privileges on the current “Ghana Bar Association” (the 2% Defendant) will vest exclusive recognition of it which farecloses rival associations of lawyers from equal recognition and participation in the public constitutional space and that such recognitions and conferment of powers, rights, roles and privileges are inconsistent with Articles 17 and 21(1)(e) of the Constitution.

5. A declaration that upon true and proper interpretation of Articles 153(f), 157(l)(c), 201(e), 204(1)(d), 166(1)(a)(i), 209(1)(d), 259(b)(ii), 261(c), and 206(e) of the 1992 Constitution, the constitutional and statutory references to the “Ghana Bar Association” ate descriptive and not exclusive to any one private voluntary association of lawyers, and that any lawyer or group of lawyers lawfully exercising their freedom of association by forming or joining a rival association of lawyers are constitutionally entitled to equal recognition and participation, and the constitutional references cannot be construed to foreclose such participation solely in favour of the 2d Defendant.

6. A declaration that the continued assumption or treatment of the current “Ghana Bar Association” (2nd Defendant) as a monopoly over all lawyers in Ghana is inconsistent with and in contravention of Articles 17 and 21(l)(e) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, which guarantees freedom of association and prohibit discrimination on grounds of association.

7. An order restraining any one private voluntary association of lawyers, including the 2nd Defendant, its officers, members, agents, servants or privies, from holding out, describing itself, or purporting to be exclusively the “Ghana Bar Association,” as used in the constitution and statutes, as such usage is misleading, deceptive, a wrongful appropriation, and a misrepresentation of the true intention of the framers of the Constitution.

Story by Hajara Fuseini

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