Canada Day Guest Post: Ebenezer Adjei Bediako from the KNUST Faculty of Law

Happy Canada Day!  My name is Ebenezer Adjei Bediako.  I’m from Kumasi, the second biggest city in Ghana.  I studied law at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (or KNUST) in Kumasi and am now a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Law as part of my national service.  I plan to remain at KNUST as a Faculty member.

I was selected by my school to intern with the University of Ottawa Community Legal Clinic this summer as part of a partnership between the KNUST Faculty of Law, Canadian Lawyers Abroad (CLA) and the University of Ottawa to establish a legal clinic at KNUST which will provide free legal services and representation to poor and marginalized people in the local community.   Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP is the Pro Bono Sponsor of the project and has provided valuable assistance.
 

Here I am speaking to Blakes summer students about customary law in Ghana.
 

I’m gaining very valuable experience as well as important insights about how the University of Ottawa Community Legal Clinic works thanks to the kind assistance and support of Louise Toone, the Clinic Director, as well as the other lawyers and students at the clinic.   On my return to Ghana, I will use the knowledge I have acquired to help establish a legal clinic at KNUST with the assistance of other Faculty members.

The partnership with Canadian Lawyers Abroad and the University of Ottawa to help establish a legal clinic at KNUST is very important to my university and my community.

The KNUST Legal Clinic will have a major impact in a number of ways.  First, this clinic will provide important assistance to people in the community who have little income and would normally not be able to access legal assistance.  Second, by providing practical training for students, the clinic will help meet KNUST’s goal of producing graduates who not only know the theory of the law but are also able to put to practice what they have learned.  It will also supplement the efforts of the  overburdened Ghana Legal Aid Board, and, by working with traditional authorities, it will promote alternative dispute resolution.  In the long-term, by promoting the rule of law and protecting human rights, this project will help reduce poverty and promote economic development in Ghana.

Through Canadian Lawyers Abroad’s assistance, the dream of establishing a legal clinic at my school will soon become a reality. In a few years I hope to see some of you happily walk through the doors of the KNUST Legal Clinic knowing you are part of its success story and an example of how law can be used to improve lives.
 

This is the KNUST law library where the clinic will be located (downstairs).