A private legal practitioner, Maurice Ampaw, has advised YouTuber Elorm Ababio, a.k.a Ama Governor, to show some remorse for her actions on social media if she intends to be called to the Ghana Bar.
Speaking in a Neat FM monitored by GhanaWeb, lawyer Ampaw said that defenders of Ama Governor should urge her to change her behaviour rather than threatening to demonstrate because their demonstration will change nothing.
He added that Ama Governor should go before the General Legal Council (GLC) with one of the nation’s top lawyers and a clergyman who will plead for the blockade on her call to the Bar to be lifted.
“You can enjoy your life, but you have to enjoy it in the quiet. You can’t be living an I don’t care life because it is your life. Who told you it is your life? Whatever you do affects somebody else.
“Let me advise Ama Governor and all those who are insulting the Council that they are not helping the girl. I also advise the girl to stop social media stuff. The matter is now soft speaking; it is before the Council.
“What she should be doing now is to be looking for an experienced lawyer, who has practised for about 30 to 50 years and a Christian clergy who is respected in the country from the orthodox churches… The man of God will plead on her behalf when they go before the Council… the law should also convince that counsel that s/he will mentor her… that is the only way the Council will lift the ban on her,” he said in Twi.
Elorm Ababio, a student who just completed the Ghana School of Law (GSL), will not be called to the Ghana Bar due to a petition filed against her by a “concerned citizen”.
The complaint, according to the letter signed by Justice Cynthia Pamela A. Addo JA, Secretary, General Legal Council (GLC), stated that Ama Governor is seen in widely circulated videos engaging in what it describes as “conduct unbecoming of an applicant to be called to the Bar”.
The complainant, the GLC Secretary, indicated also submitted a flash drive [pen drive] which contains selected video files and hyperlinks of Ama Governor to relevant website publications.
Ama Governor’s conduct is said to violate Regulation 21(c) of the Legal Profession (Professional and Post-call Law Course) Regulations, 2018 L.I. 2355.
The said regulation states: “A student of the school qualifies to be called to the Bar if that student has […] (c) satisfied the Council that the student is of good character.”
The Council, as Justice Cynthia Pamela A. Addo JA said, had thus decided:
“1. To constitute a three-member Committee to investigate the complaint and advise Council accordingly.
“2. To suspend the decision to call you [Ama Governor] to the Bar pending the outcome of the investigation.
“I have been directed by the Chairperson of the General Legal Council to inform you of this matter and to advise you to expect to be contacted by the Committee in due course.”
“You will be given a fair hearing on the complaint before a decision is arrived at,” Justice Cynthia Pamela A. Addo JA’s letter dated November 3 concluded.