Relief for varsities as court reinstates halted law courses
Moi University’s School of Law, Annex Campus, in Eldoret. PHOTO | FILE
The High Court has revoked a decision by the Council for Legal Education (CLE) to suspend law degree programmes at Mount Kenya University (MKU) and Moi University.
Justice George Odunga Monday ruled that the CLE has no authority to accredit or withdraw accreditation issued to universities offering law degree courses.
He further held that the CLE as currently constituted is not in line with the Constitution hence the suspension notices it issued to the two universities were illegal.
Moi University moved to court last year after the CLE ordered the closure of its law degree programme. Mount Kenya University sued the CLE in January after it was ordered to stop admitting law students.
Both universities held that the CLE was illegally constituted and hence did not have authority to accredit or discredit law courses. They also held that accreditation of law programmes falls in the docket of the Commission for University Education (CUE) and not the CLE.
“I grant an order quashing the decision of the CLE contained in the letter dated January 7, 2016 purporting to order MKU to suspend students into its law campus. I grant an order quashing forthwith the report dated September 23, 2015 as well as the letter directing Moi University to commence the process of closure of its law school,” Mr Justice Odunga held in the two cases filed by the universities.
The judge held that the CLE’s membership was not done in accordance with the Legal Education Act of 2012 and gave the government 60 days to reconstitute the body.
Following amendments to the Legal Education Act, the chairperson of the CLE board is to be appointed by the President and not the Attorney-General.
The changes also reduce the Law Society of Kenya’s (LSK) representation on the board to two rather than four. Public and private universities also get one representative each on the board.
Moi University and MKU reckon that the power to accredit and deregister law programmes is exclusively enjoyed by the Commission for University Education. Mr Justice Odunga ruled that the CLE’s role is merely advisory hence it cannot halt law courses.
“You cannot have two concurrent centres of power with respect of accreditation of universities. The declaration of the illegality in the Constitution is, however, suspended for a period of 60 days to facilitate the proper reconstitution of the said council,” he said.
Mount Kenya University argued that the CLE suspended its Bachelor of Laws degree programme on January 7, three days after the institution had admitted students to pursue the course.
The university has been operating on a provisional accreditation licence since 2010 when it started offering the law degree.
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