Makerere University graduates told to certify documents
What you need to know:
CLE chief executive Wanjala Kulundu-Bitonye gave the students until September 29 to submit the documents.
Ugandan students have used the courts to get admission to the law school whenever they are denied an opportunity.
The Council of Legal Education has ordered all law graduates from Makerere University to have the institution certify their documents before they sit their Bar examination in November.
CLE chief executive Wanjala Kulundu-Bitonye gave the students until September 29 to submit the documents.
The development comes two days after Makerere University announced that it would recall law degrees awarded to its students irregularly in the past decade, causing panic among hundreds of legal practitioners across the region who are graduates of the institution.
It said the move followed an investigation, which had shown that some of the academic certificates might have been altered or forged.
DEGREE CERTIFICATES
“The graduates must furnish the council with copies of degree certificates and transcripts, certified or verified by Makerere University as genuine, failing which the candidates will be considered ineligible to take the Bar examination,” said Prof Kulundu-Bitonye in a September 13 public notice.
CLE is mandated to regulate legal education and training, license and supervise legal education providers and advise the government on matters relating to legal education and training.
Last year, it stopped admission of students to the Kenya School of Law (KSL) due to the what it termed an error in the procedure of admitting non-Kenyans.
RECALL DEGREES
The decision by Makerere to recall the degrees could throw the legal profession in Kenya into a crisis since many Kenyans working as advocates, magistrates and public and private institutions are alumni of the Ugandan institution.
Ugandan students have used the courts to get admission to the law school whenever they are denied an opportunity.
The Makerere investigation was led by former dean of the School of Law Damalie Naggitta-Musoke.
The preliminary report revealed a mismatch between results submitted by the university’s colleges and schools and the final scores released by the Office of the Academic Registrar.
