Suspending Ama Governor’s call to the Bar on character grounds arbitrary – Sosu

The Member of Parliament for the Madina constituency, Francis-Xavier Sosu, has criticised the General Legal Council for going beyond its mandate by suspending the decision to call a qualified law student to the bar because of a lack of good character following a complaint.

Citing Article 21 of the constitution, Mr. Sosu stressed that the student, Elorm Ababio, known online as Ama Governor, had her freedom of speech and expression in her personal spaces.

“When you put this together, what the General Legal Council is seeking to do is to invade the privacy and social life of another person,” he said on Eyewitness News.

The MP said there were no existing criteria to judge good character and its decision on Ms. Ababio was “discriminatory, unlawful, unconstitutional, and it is very arbitrary.”

“Have you published any clear-cut criterion that determines what amounts to morality and what is immoral… If you cannot give us clear standards by which you determine that, then you are acting arbitrarily, and you are acting unconstitutionally?”

Also on the show, a lawyer, Ghanamanti Wayo, backed the punitive action by the General Legal Council, suggesting that some pictures of Ms. Ababio in her private life were inappropriate.

“The conduct being complained about is like a way of life, and the question is you are getting into a profession where you are basically going to be a role model.”

He argued further argued that Ms Ababio could be compromised if she is later promoted as a judge.

“These pictures of hers and this conduct of hers 10 or 20 years ago will still come back to haunt her,” the lawyer said.