The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has justified its decision to invite the Chair of the Bar Council of England and Wales to its 2025 Annual Conference.
In a statement issued by its National President, Efua Ghartey, and National Secretary, Kwaku Gyau, the GBA intimated that there was nothing wrong with the invitation.
The association stated that this was not the first time the Bar Council of England and Wales had been invited to its annual Conference, adding that the invitation forms part of efforts to build good relationships with other bar associations.
“We also wish to place on record that this is not the first time the Bar Council of England and Wales is joining the GBA at its Annual Conference. At the Association’s Annual Conference held in Ho, the Volta Regional capital, in 2022, the Bar Council of England and Wales participated in the Conference.
“The GBA also maintains relationships with other professional bodies like the African Bar Association, the International Bar Association, Nigerian Bar Association, Sierra Leonean Bar Association, Law Society of Kenya, Law Society of England and Wales, the American Bar Association, among others, who from year to year are invited to attend programmes of the GBA.”
A section of the public, including renowned US-based Ghanaian lawyer and scholar, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, called out the GBA over the invitation of the Chair of the Bar Council of England and Wales.
In a post shared on Facebook, Kwaku Azar asserted that the invitation was strange.
“UK Bar Council President Is Guest Speaker at GBA Annual Conference — ’Tis Getting Curioser and Colonialer,” he wrote.
