The President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Mr. Tony Forson has appealed to the media to be circumspect in their reportage of political activities saying they “should do all in their power to promote peace and unity in the country.”
Speaking at the GBA webinar, Mr. Forson said the association would be hosting a colloquium for journalists to ensure insult free political season in the country and also condemned insults directed at judges in the performance of their judicial function.
“Court may sometimes make mistakes that is why the constitution makes adequate appellate provision and it does not lie within any person’s province to insult the court or any institution of state for that matter.”
Mr. Forson also appealed to the president, Nana Addo to lead the way to heal the nation to end the cycle bitterness saying the polarized nature of our society is so deep-rooted that lip service from our leaders will not lessen it.
“I will urge you as the father of the nation with a clear knowledge of this unfortunate state of affairs to lead the charge to truly heal this nation otherwise this cycle of bitterness will never end.”
Speaking on Ghana’s Electoral process, the GBA President congratulated the Electoral Commission for the success of the first phase of the registration exercise through the deployment of ICT and the innovation of texting 1422 to verify one’s details on the Voter’s Register.
On legal education, Mr. Forson recounted that the Chief Justice through his leadership was ensuring transparency and openness in the training of law students to obviate the hardship students face in trying to enter the Law School.
According to him, the Chief Justice was making the public know happenings in various Law faculties and affording them the knowledge to make informed choices.
“We hope that the performance in this year’s entry examination would be much better to afford many more students entry into the law school.”
Mr. Forson said he supports the Law school village concept to expand access and eventually move to the system where more faculties could be provided for the professional training with supervision by the General Legal Council.
“Quality should never be compromised for any reason.”
Touching on some achievement during his tenure, Mr. Forson said the GBA has been able to digitize data on all persons ever called to the bar since 1877.
“We have completely automated the application completion certificate of pupilage. We have created a Lawyer locator software that allows the general public online searches on members.
“The public can now inquire online a lawyer’s location, specialty, age, experience, contact information, and verify the membership of all lawyers and their chambers.”
Also, Mr. Forson said the GBA has also begun designing software to enable the public to access Legal Aid services remotely, interface with assigned lawyers and track the progress of their cases online.
He was optimistic that in the next GBA conference, members would use technology in voting instead of using a whole day in voting.
