Supreme Court Justice nominee, Kweku T. Ackaah-Boafo, has expressed deep concern over the shortage of legal practitioners in Ghana and has called for the urgent training of more lawyers to meet the evolving demands of the country’s justice system.
Appearing before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Friday, June 20, Justice Ackaah-Boafo provided a historical overview of the legal profession, highlighting the slow growth in the number of trained lawyers despite Ghana’s growing population.
“Between 1877 and 1963, there were 570 lawyers in Ghana. I mentioned 1877 because of the Judicature Act,” he noted.
He continued: “From 1962 till now—as of May 2025—I think the number of lawyers from 1962 to 2025 is about 10,400. So, in total, lawyers in Ghana will be about 11,000. From the Ghana Bar Association portal and from what I asked around, practising lawyers will be about 8,000 — so there are not enough lawyers in Ghana.”
Justice Ackaah-Boafo observed that the country’s lawyer-to-population ratio remains far from ideal.
“If you look at our population, you will have about 2,000 people to a lawyer,” he said, adding, “I think that something ought to be done.”
He endorsed calls to decentralise legal education in order to broaden access but cautioned that the process must be managed carefully and with proper oversight.
“I believe decentralisation of legal education is important, but we must be cautious in how we go about it,” he said.
The nominee’s remarks reflect wider concerns within Ghana’s legal fraternity, where stakeholders have frequently raised alarms over bottlenecks in legal education and limited access to justice across the country.
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