Politics and policy
Technical University of Mombasa students leave for home following unrest
over accreditation of engineering courses in September last year. PHOTO
| FILE
By NEVILLE OTUKI and KIARIE NJOROGE
In Summary
- Kenyatta University (KU), UoN’s Parklands Campus and Strathmore University are some of the institutions allowed to offer law.
- Mount Kenya University and JKUAT have been given provisional permits, pending a review of their applications.
The Council of Legal Education has stopped University
of Nairobi’s Mombasa and Kisumu campuses from admitting new law
students from the current academic year.
The regulator also rejected Jaramogi Oginga Odinga
University’s application for accreditation and asked Catholic University
to show a closure plan by November 23.
The Council of Legal Education issued the verdict
in a public notice, a blot to the UoN and Moi University — whose law
school has also been ordered shut — given they have trained the bulk of
Kenyan lawyers, magistrates and prosecutors.
It also underlines the mismatch between teaching
facilities and the rapid expansion of public universities, which has
seen enrolment increase from 122,847 in 2009 and 443,783 students last
year.
“Any institution purporting to provide legal
education which is not hereunder mentioned has no legal standing and is
therefore not authorised to offer legal education,” said the notice
signed by Prof Kulundu Bitonye, the Council of Legal Education chief
executive.
Kenyatta University (KU), UoN’s Parklands Campus and Strathmore University are some of the institutions allowed to offer law.
Other institutions like Mount Kenya University and
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) have been
given provisional permits, pending a review of their applications.
Attorney-General Githu Muigai recently criticised local universities for producing half-baked lawyers.
Prof Muigai said the parallel degree module was a
venture set up by universities to mint money from parents, adding that
graduates of the programme have nothing to show for it.
“It is absurd to teach labour, family and criminal law in total disregard of knowledge beneficial to the learners,” the AG said.
Moi University’s Masters in (child and family) Law course was suspended in February.
The Engineering Board of Kenya early this month
asked public universities to stop admitting students for engineering
courses it had not approved and immediately suspend teaching of
continuing students.
The institutions, the board said, had questionable
engineering courses include the UoN, KU, Masinde Muliro, Technical
University of Kenya and Technical University of Mombasa.
Egerton University, JKUAT and University of Eldoret are also in the list.
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