The Faculty of Law of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has marked its 15th anniversary under the theme; ‘Law, Science and Technology in the 21st Century’ with a durbar of staff of faculty, students, alumni and stakeholders. The Faculty of Law, KNUST established in August 2003 was the second in Ghana.
The Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Mrs. Lydia Apori Nkansah, in her welcome address stated that, KNUST stands tall in providing excellent legal education to students who have made global impact as lawyers, jurists, judges, parliamentarians among others; therefore, celebrating fifteen years of academic excellence was worth it.
On the successes of the Faculty, she mentioned that the Moot Teams of the Faculty have won numerous awards at various moot court competitions including the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, the African Human Rights Moot Court Competition and the Georgina T. Wood Moot Court competition, which is the brainchild of the Faculty of Law, KNUST. In February 2019, the Faculty Moot Team became the national champions for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition for the third consecutive time to represent Ghana in the International competition at Washington, USA, where the team became the 2nd Best in Africa.
The Faculty of Law in expanding its academic curriculum to meet the current needs of the country, she said, has been revised to include Medical Law and Ethics, African Union Law, Oil and Gas Law and Comparative Law.
Professor Nkansah revealed that the Faculty of Law is set to roll its PhD programme in 2019/2020 academic year.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, mentioned that over the years, the Faculty has ensured continuous delivery of legal education for many seeking to advance careers in Law. Undoubtedly, he said, Science and Technology has affected the areas of medicine, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, aviation, telecommunications and many others and that scientific research and innovation have made life easier.
He called for the collaboration of all to ensure that Law, Science and Technology are not sidelined as we strive to build an orderly, fair, and just society suitable for the realities of the 21st century.
The Chief Justice of the Republic, Justice Sophia A.B. Akuffo in a speech read on her behalf by Justice Samuel Anim Yeboah, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, said that in the 21st Century, the role of Judges and Lawyers is ever changing and expanding in areas such as cybercrimes and therefore the use of more advanced technologies for data collection, analysis and storage is required. She believed that Law plays a critical role in the regulation of Science and Technology, particularly in the area of ethical consequences of scientific research and new technology.
In the coming years, she hoped the various tertiary institutions that teach Law would introduce science and technology into their curricula, encourage interdisciplinary academic research into new developments in Science and Technology that affect Law, and be abreast with legislating scientific and technological advancements domestically and globally.
The Chairman for the occasion, Professor Kwasi Obiri Danso, the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, commended the students for their great performances in the competitions. He promised his greatest commitment to always support the Faculty of Law to remain at the top.
In a related development, the Faculty commissioned the state-of-the-art digital resource centre through the charitable donation of the family of the Late Lawyer Thomas Asamoah Totoe. The resource centre houses Video Conferencing, Electronic Journals and Books, Law Journal Library, Online Theses, Cases and Treaties, world constitutions among others.
At the end of the durbar, the Faculty of Law feted the alumni, staff, and various stakeholders to a dinner which was sponsored by K. Badu Agro Chemicals, Kessben Group of Companies, Jofel Catering Services, Yaa Asantewaa Rural Bank, Fred Addy Enterprise, Living Waters Specialist Hospital, Latex Foam, Sumaila Micro-Credit Services, Donyma Company Limited and J. K. Agyemang Group of Companies.