The Rector of MountCrest University College, (MountCrest), Mrs Irene Ansa-Asare Horsham, has advised law students to learn to be bold and assertive as they prepare to become legal practitioners.

She said Ghana needed law graduates who could speak truth to power and uphold Ghana’s motto, ‘Freedom and Justice’.

Borrowing the words of the venerable English Judge, Lord Denning, the MountCrest Rector pointed out that there were two types of law graduates that entered society, “bold spirits and timorous souls”.

Mrs Horsham, therefore, urged law schools to eschew teaching and learning methods that bred, “timorous souls” (timid people).

She gave the advice at the 11th matriculation ceremony of the MountCrest University College held virtually to admit the 2021 (A) cohorts of law students.

According to the rector, who is also a law lecturer, MountCrest prided itself in training graduates who would become the bold spirits that would speak truth to power and uphold Ghana’s motto, saying that “at MountCrest, we eschew teaching and learning methods that breed timorous souls”.

Legal education

She said although she did not agree that legal education should hold an elevated status, she recognised that it was indeed special because its distinctiveness was underlined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, specifically in Articles 125(1) and 88(1).

“Article 125(1): Justice emanates from the people and shall be administered in the name of the Republic by the Judiciary which shall be independent and subject only to this Constitution.

“Article 88(1): There shall be an Attorney-General of Ghana who shall be a Minister of State and the principal legal adviser to the Government,” Mrs Horsham quoted.

Importance of Judiciary

The rector noted that as far as Ghana’s Constitution was concerned, the role of the Judiciary in the administration of justice and that of the Attorney-General in being the legal advisor to government could not be performed by anyone other than persons who were qualified as lawyers.

Those roles, she said, were indirectly reserved by the Constitution for lawyers.

“That is what makes legal education so special in the development of our young democracy. Unlike other roles in government, people not trained in law are not permitted by the Constitution to perform the roles of the Judiciary and the Attorney General because they simply cannot,” she stressed.

Ghana’s motto

“This means that in addition to your studies, you are today being called upon to uphold Ghana’s motto; ‘Freedom and Justice.

“The journey starts here. You are potentially a future Attorney-General, a future judge, a future Chief Justice. None of your colleagues from other disciplines can perform the vital role of the judiciary that requires independence subject only to the Constitution. Not to the Executive, not to the Legislature, but only to the Constitution,” she told the students.

She said the degree that the students would receive at the end of their programme would only be a starting point that did not end with its conferment but would prepare them for life.

The acting Registrar of MountCrest, Ms Ama A. Akor assured the students that the university college would give them the needed resources and support to enable them to achieve their ultimate aims of becoming world-class legal practitioners. “We will help to make your stay here comfortable and worthwhile”.

The Head of Public Law, MountCrest University College, Prof. Vukor Quarshie, who represented the Dean of the MountCrest Law Faculty, Mr Kwaku Ansa-Asare, presented the matriculants and charged them to be worthy members of the MountCrest community and also urged them to take their academic work seriously while making the best use of their time at MountCrest.