The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Wednesday, 26th May 2021, cut the sod for the construction of phase one of the Law School Village of the Ghana Law School, at a ceremony at the Academic Enclave near the University of Ghana Business School.
With the Ghana School of Law being the nation’s sole institution that is responsible for professional legal education, and for training eligible persons as lawyers and integrating them into the legal system, President Akufo-Addo expressed his delight about the project taking place under his Presidency.
“I have been reliably informed that some one thousand (1,000) students were admitted during the 2020/2021 academic year, a development which led to the Acting Director and Management of the School taking a cue from the double track system, initiated in our senior high schools, to introduce a triple track system,” he said.
The President continued, “with the 2021/2022 academic year fast approaching, the School is, again, faced with limited and overstretched facilities, hence the added importance of this Project”.
The entire Law Village Project, according to the President, will cost some fifty-five million United States dollars (US$55 million), with phase one complementing the facilities of the Accra Main Campus located at Makola, at a cost of some four million dollars (US$4 million).
“Once completed, the Law Village will boast of an additional seating capacity of one thousand five hundred (1,500) seats, a number of lecture halls, a well-resourced library, residential facilities, offices, amongst others,” he added.
The President was expectant that the completion of the Law Village project will expand access to legal education, without compromising on its quality, and, ultimately, assist in the administration of justice throughout the country.
“As many more lawyers are trained, it is my hope that, indeed, many more of them will join the public sector to enhance the quality of legal service delivery in the sector. I assure all of you that this project is the beginning of greater things to come for the Ghana School of Law. Government’s commitment to leaving a lasting legacy in professional legal education in Ghana is absolute,” he added.
The project is to address the challenges of overwhelmed and outdated facilities and traffic congestion, amongst others, faced at the present location of the main campus at Makola in Accra.
The new campus will provide the following: a state of the art one thousand, 300-seater multi-purpose conference hall; 2 lecture halls with teleconferencing facilities; 2 No. 500-seater lecture theatres; 15 No. lecture rooms of 40-seater capacity each; a modern library; sick bay, student lounges, amongst others.
It will also house an SRC Centre, a 50-unit office facility for faculty and administration; a 50-seater restaurant; reading rooms; and general stores of the Law School.