At GLS maiden conference: Bagbin urges reforms that solve practical problems

Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has urged Ghana’s legal profession to support reforms that solve practical problems and make justice more accessible to citizens.

Speaking at the Ghana Law Society’s maiden Annual Bar Conference, held under the theme “Legal Reforms: The Place of the Ghanaian Lawyer,” he said the success of legal reform should not be judged by the number of laws Parliament passes.

Instead, he said, laws must be assessed by whether they improve justice, strengthen accountability and protect citizens’ rights.

“Good law and good law reform must solve a problem. It must expand justice. It must improve accountability. It must protect liberty and ultimately it must make the law work better for the ordinary citizen,” Mr Bagbin said.

He warned that legislation could have little value if it could not be effectively implemented.

“A beautifully crafted Act of Parliament that cannot be implemented is little more than an elegant promise,” he said.

The Speaker also cautioned that constitutional rights remained largely theoretical for citizens who lacked the practical means to enforce them.

“A constitutional right that a poor citizen cannot practically claim remains distant from the person it was intended to protect,” he added.

Mr Bagbin called for greater attention to the practical operation of the justice system, including access to the courts, available resources, delays in determining cases and the remuneration of judicial officers.

He said lawyers had a duty to help shape Ghana’s legal and constitutional order rather than merely apply existing laws.

“The lawyer is therefore not simply a practitioner of law. The lawyer is an architect of the republic, and architects carry huge responsibility,” he said.

He urged lawyers to understand the law as it exists while also questioning whether it remained suitable for a changing society.

Mr Bagbin said technology, commerce, crime, environmental concerns and other social developments were creating new demands for the legal system.

“Law cannot afford to remain a spectator in these changes,” he said, warning that a legal system that failed to evolve could lose its relevance.

He nevertheless cautioned against pursuing reform simply for the sake of change.

On Ghana’s ongoing constitutional reform process, the Speaker urged lawyers and other stakeholders to examine whether proposed changes were coherent, democratically legitimate and capable of being implemented.

He said they must also consider institutional capacity and the long-term consequences of the choices being made.

“Reform begins with uncomfortable questions,” Mr Bagbin said.