Moi University law students seek Matiang'i's intervention

Moi University is on the spot after the Council of Legal Education ordered the institution stop offering law degree programmes throwing enrolled students in uncertainty.

About 21 postgraduate students who were enrolled for masters degree in Child and Family Law have written to the Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i asking for help to resume learning.

“We were admitted in the year 2014 and were expected to complete our course within two years but our studies were abruptly halted by the institution and no explanation was given to us,” said the students in the letter.

They said they had tried contacting the school’s management but have not received any response since their studies were stopped in 2015.

“To date we have never received any communication from the university recalling us to school or to resume with our studies,” they said.

LOSS

They claimed that most of them had left employment and secured bank loans to undertake the programme and had suffered immense loss of time and finances during this time.

“Most students had to hire taxis on a daily basis to take them home after classes ended at 11pm. The students sat for all their examinations and passed and were expecting to graduate by the year 2015,” read the letter.

The aggrieved students took issue with the university saying they felt neglected despite being properly admitted to study the course.

They said the University had focused on boosting the Bachelors programme after the government threatened to stop it following concerns over the quality of learning in the school.

“It is unfair that the university has focused all their attention on the Bachelor of Law (LLB) program and left the master students in the cold yet some of us sacrificed a lot just to attend the classes and it is unfair that we are subjected to this treatment,” said the students.

The students requested Dr Matiang’i to assist them graduate this year.

RESUME STUDIES

“We would be grateful if this grievance is addressed soonest with a view of having us recalled back to resume our studies and graduate by the end of the academic year,” read the letter copied to Education Principal Secretary Dr Belio Kipsang and Chief Executive Officer Commission on Higher Education.

The University, however, said it was working hard to ensure the programme resumes soon.

The University’s Public Relations Officer Alfred Wandera said the institution was keen to resolve the matter “in a manner that is to the advantage of everyone.”

“The Dean of the School of Law has written to all the students and kept them abreast of the progress.  He has even had meetings with some students and explained the circumstances,” he said in a press statement.

ACCREDIT

The university also maintained that the Director of Postgraduate Studies wrote to every member of the class explaining the processes that the University was undertaking to rectify the situation.

“Indeed, when a two-day workshop was scheduled at Rivatex in September 2016 there was no representation by the students despite having been invited. Another 2 day workshop was held at Merica Hotel in Nakuru on 16th and 17th of February 2017 in which stakeholders participated,” Mr Wandera said.

He said the University’s senate would consider the resumption of the programme in April before students are readmitted.

The university confirmed that the course was suspended by the Council of Legal Education purportedly because the regulator had not accredited.

“The University challenged the decision of CLE and indeed the powers that CLE was purporting to exercise vide Petition No 425 of 2015. By a judgment read in April 2016, the court held in favour of the University and stated that CLE had no power under the law to accredit or even license any university or school offering law programmes,” read the statement.