Moi University law students to sue for faculty closure

Moi University School of Law students have issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Council of Legal Education (CLE) to apologise over closure of the institution or face legal action for defamation.

The students, through their chairman Khalende Wabwire took issue with the report released by CLE and questioned why they based their findings on infrastructure instead on focusing on education quality.

He termed the report as malevolent and misguided insisted that they have never raised any concerns as students on infrastructure matters that would have warranted the attention of CLE.

Knowles Okull, the university’s student body secretary general said the institution has constantly been winning both local and international moot court awards, an indicator that proves that their education quality is up to standard.

The backlash comes barely two days after CLE issued a statement to the Moi University administration calling for the closure of its School of Law over apparent failure to meet set standards fro defamation.

“It is particularly significant that the institution scored poorly on curriculum and modes of delivery academic staff and staff qualifications, infrastructure and resources and library and library resources, inspection criteria in which the institution must score at least 50% to qualify for full accreditation,” read the statement in part.

“For the time being, the facilities and resources at Moi University School of Law do not meet the required threshold for full accreditation under section 19 (1) of the legal education act and inspection guidelines.”

The council ordered Moi University to put in place a plan for either teaching out current students or transferring them to licensed institutions, further calling on the university to devise a management plan for its academic staff.

“Moi University’s School of Law is hereby required to submit a closure plan within the next two months for consideration by council,” stated CLE.

“Should the institution be desirous of becoming a legal education provider under section 18 (1) and (2) of the Legal Education Act, no. 27 of 2012 in the future, it may submit a fresh application for consideration by council.”

The move to close the school has also elicited wide condemnation from a group of lawyers, who are alumni of Moi University School of Law.

The group termed the move impolitic saying Moi University has the best facilities and has been producing some of the country’s top lawyers.

Kenya’s higher learning programme has come under sharp scrutiny followed cases of fake degrees offered in several institutions.

In several occasions, the Commission for University Education (CUE) has been put on the spot to explain allegations of sub-standard courses offered in several learning institutions in the country including colleges, private universities and training institutes.

Contribution by Daniel Korir