By Kwaku Azar
The AG has announced plans to end the Makola monopoly and usher in a decentralized, merit-based system for training lawyers.
This bold reform will be implemented through legislation—and we urge swift action to make it a reality.
But while we wait for the law to catch up, real students are waiting too, and we must act now.
A. What Happens to Those Who’ve Already Finished the LLB?
There are thousands of law graduates who finished the LLB this year or were previously denied entry into Makola due to quotas. These students must be allowed to take the required courses (Civil Procedure, Advocacy, Ethics, etc.) at any accredited university or training center, not just the Ghana School of Law. They are entitled to immediate relief.
The GLC should administer the “Makola exam” nationwide, free from quotas or centralized admissions. The exam should be offered around the same time up to the year 2028.
B. What About Students Already in Makola?
Makola currently has two cohorts:
• The second-year students should graduate normally and won’t be affected. Candidates who are referred or do not pass can follow the usual process
• The first-year students should be allowed to complete the second year without disruption. They enrolled under the old system and must be treated fairly.
C. What About Current LLB Students?
I. Students Entering Year 2 or 3 This Year (2025/26):
Universities must revamp the curriculum to include procedural law, ethics, drafting, and clinical legal education. These students will graduate and sit for the Makola exam, administered nationwide—not the old Makola admission system.
II. Fresh LLB Students Starting This Year (2025/26)
Welcome to the future! You should be the first full cohort under the new system. You’ll take everything—doctrinal, procedural, ethics, drafting, and clinic—within your LLB. You’ll sit for the National Bar Exam in 2028.
D. After 2027: A New Role for Makola
By 2028, Makola will no longer serve as a gatekeeper. It should evolve into:
• A Bar Exam Secretariat
• A Continuing Legal Education (CLE) provider
• A Post-Call Specialized Training hub
E. Why This Matters
This is the boldest reset in our legal education since independence. It breaks the chokehold, ends exclusion, and replaces bureaucracy with competence.
The wait has been too long. The expectations are high. The suffering must end immediately.
The implementation must be first-class so that no student is left behind, no graduate is stranded, and no aspiring lawyer is denied access simply because they didn’t pass through a single gate.
Let this be the year we end exclusion and build a legal profession anchored in merit, fairness, and national service.
The future of the legal profession just got:
More transparent
More accessible
More meritocratic
Next, we will discuss what a National Bar Exam should look like.
If we’re replacing the old gate with a new standard, it must be one rooted in competence, fairness, and professional readiness. The National Bar Exam must not replicate the curriculum of Makola.
It should test what truly matters: the ability to apply the law, uphold ethics, reason through complexity, and serve clients with skill and integrity. Not crammed memory.
PS: Yɛde post no bɛto hɔ. Yɛnyɛ comprehension consultants.
Da Yie!
Source: newsthemegh.com