The Board Chair of the Public Procurement Authority, Professor Douglas K. Boateng, has challenged legal practitioners to move beyond interpreting laws to becoming active drivers of corporate governance reforms capable of transforming institutions and strengthening the country's economic development.
He said although the country had the legal frameworks and institutions to promote accountability, the country's greatest challenge was not the absence of laws but a governance deficit rooted in values, leadership and mindsets, making it imperative for lawyers to lead efforts to reverse the trend.
"The parliamentary committees exist.
The courts exist.
The regulatory bodies exist. It is a governance gap.
We need to start changing mindsets by doing what is right," Prof. Boateng said at the Greater Accra Regional Law week 2026 conference in Accra last Tuesday.
The event, on the theme, "Corporate Governance Rebooted: From Rules to Transformation," brought together legal practitioners, corporate executives and governance experts to discuss the role of lawyers in promoting ethical leadership, accountability and sustainable institutional growth.
Governance mindset
Prof. Boateng said corporate governance should not be viewed merely as compliance with rules and regulations but as a culture that began in the home and shaped the character of future leaders.
He said lawyers, by virtue of the influential positions they occupied on corporate and public boards, had a responsibility to promote integrity, transparency and accountability in decision-making.
Drawing lessons from countries such as Singapore, Rwanda and Botswana, he said those nations had achieved remarkable progress because they made governance a national priority and embedded ethical leadership in their institutions from an early stage.
"The strength of a nation is not in the laws it passes.
It is in the values it plants in the hearts of its children before those children are old enough to break any law at all," he said.
He said governance education should begin in homes and schools, adding that lawyers were well placed to champion that agenda.
Change of mindset
Prof. Boateng said the country's future prosperity depended on changing the mindset of its citizens from one of blame to one of responsibility and service.
He said many institutions had governance structures and committees in place but often failed because individuals neglected to do what was right.
He added that if governance was strengthened and embraced across all sectors, Ghana had the potential to build a trillion-dollar economy by 2057.
Lawyers' responsibility
The National President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Efua Ghartey, said lawyers had a critical role to play in promoting good corporate governance because they served in boardrooms and participated in important national decision-making processes.
She said the continuous legal education session on corporate governance was organised to equip legal practitioners with the knowledge and practical skills required to strengthen governance systems in both the public and private sectors.
"We believe corporate governance is one of the pillars of industry and structure in every country.
If you maintain a good corporate governance culture, the systems will have integrity, survive and deliver," she said.
Law Week
The President of the Greater Accra Regional Bar, Isabel Boaten, said this year's Law Week was designed to encourage lawyers to move beyond seeing governance as a compliance exercise and embrace it as a tool for institutional transformation.
She said governance was the foundation for resilient institutions and sustainable development.
"Governance cannot be treated as a matter of rules, checklists and boring language.
It is the difference between resilience and collapse," she said.
