Dean of the University of Ghana Integration of free trade across the African continent will be hinged on a robust legal framework and has therefore urged stakeholders within the trade value chain to deepen their knowledge and skill in legal issues pertaining to trade.
In an interview with Single African Market, he said: “The political ideas of integration, the economic function of free trade, are always guided by legal rules. So, it’s not possible to leave out law, legal indicators if you want to have successful integration and successful free trade on the continent.
He added: “It would not work if you go on an agenda, to integrate the continent, without finding out how to integrate legal education and legal services to accord with the agenda of economic and political integration.”
According to Prof. Atuguba, making trade integration work goes beyond lawyers, and called on politicians, administrators and technocrats to deepen their knowledge about the legal rules of free trade in order to function in their respective domains.
“They don’t have to be lawyers, some of them may have to study law additionally, but others just direct practical guidance on the legal rules that pertain to their work in integration and free trade,” he advised.
The Dean of the University of Ghana Law School said the failure to build the right legal capacity for AfCFTA will be one of the missing links to the continental integration endeavor and for that matter, there was the need for tertiary institutions to design law curriculum that works for the continent and not just for individual members of the continent.
He said: “Otherwise, integration will not work. We have to start trading lawyers who can function continental and not just for the Ghanaian play, Nigeria has to start training lawyers who can function continentally, and not just on the Nigerian plate.”
To help the situation, Prof Atuguba said faculty was designing new courses for professionals from diverse backgrounds to build their capacity in legal issues.
“We are hoping for example that people from the ministry of trade who are working on issues of free trade and continental integration may want to apply and come to study.
Our master’s programs here are designed not only for people with LLB degrees, who will then study for an LLM. We have designed them also for people who have no LLB degrees,” he said.