UG Law School seeks support for ongoing new building construction

The Dean of the University of Ghana School of Law, Professor Raymond Atuguba, has cited the lack of funds as one of the main challenges affecting the progress of the work on the new law school building.

He disclosed this to the media on Friday when the 1984-year group of the school paid a courtesy call on the school to assess how they could contribute to the new project, which sited the main UG campus on the Haatso-GIMPA stretch.

Prof. Atuguba revealed that an interaction between the 1984 year and new students resulted in the call for bigger facilities to train law students due to the increasing number of students.

“The 1984 year group of the University of Ghana School of Law has paid us a courtesy call, and as part of the call, we’ve had interaction between the 1984 year and our students; they’ve given them pieces of advice and encouraged them in their studies, but they’ve also decided to visit our new site because the programmes we run are increasing as our student numbers, especially for the postgraduate studies.”

“The idea is that, like it happens all over the world, each year a group will visit us and contribute to the progress of the project. As all these year groups contribute to it, we will be able to meet our construction time lines, and then the students will have a better experience in the law school,” he explained.

He said they intend to stick with the slated timeline, which is 18 months following a sod cut by the Chief Justice in October 2023, to begin the project.

“So we have an 18-month timeline, and we hope to stick to it. It started in October last year, so it’s been a couple of months now. That’s when the Chief Justice cut the sword for the beginning of construction, and so far as you can see, now we’ve done the basement, we’ve done the foundation, and we are now erecting the columns for the walls to be put up,” he said.

Briefing journalists about the composition of the work, the project manager, Dr. George Mends, said that there are some basic things that a law school must have, such as class rooms, lecture halls, tutorial rooms, moot court facilities, libraries, and baby bays for nursing mothers.

“In addition to what Prof. said, we have a 1000-seater auditorium in the main building, 2500-seater lecture halls, 14 Ph.D. rooms, a 500-seat moot court room, a 250-seat moot court room, a Dean’s Secretariat, 3 offices for Heads of Departments, 4 offices for the Administrative Unit, 11 office areas for various units, 6 office areas for various programmes, a conference room, and 90 faculty offices, 3 staff lounges, a cafeteria lounge, a sky bar, a vice chancellor’s lounge, and a gym area,” the project manager said.

Professor Atugiba stated an estimated amount of US$30 million would be required to complete the project, stressing that the only challenge hindering the progress of work is a lack of cash. He called on all past and present students to contribute generously to the construction of the new school.

Speaking on behalf of the visiting students, Mr. Philip Ebo Bondzi recounted some memories from their stay at the School of Law and listed prominent people who completed the school.

“40 years on, we are here to thank God for what the faculty has done for us. The faculty has positioned us in a place where we have been able to practice the law in manifold ways. From our group, one has risen to be a former speaker of parliament, one has risen to be a chief justice, there are supreme court justices, there are ambassadors, a vice chancellor of a university, and a former rector of a university, professors, diplomats, and ambassadors, top-level military officers, private legal practitioners of eminence, and we have travelled in all the fields. We thank God for that,” he elaborated.

He assured the school that he would satisfy himself with some of their pressing issues and inform the other members of the 1984 class to see how best they could help their alma mater.