Law Society of Kenya urges Moi University to appeal an order to close law school

Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has called on Moi University to appeal the decision fronted by the Council of Legal Education (CLE) on the order to close school of law.

North Rift branch officials led by Chairperson Zephania Yego termed the decision as dubious insisting that the institution has constantly portrayed high standards of professional conduct and does not warrant its closure.

“There is no basis for suggesting that the facilities and resources at Moi University School of Law do not meet the required threshold for full accreditation,” he spoke in Eldoret.

He challenged the institution to appeal the decision in order to safeguard the interests of students whose fate is currently at stake.

Yego, the legal team questioned why Moi University was not given an opportunity to be heard before the order for closure.

"The council instead of inviting the institution to show cause went ahead ordering its shutdown a move which is contrary to the rules of natural justice," he explained.

The officials who spoke upon inspecting the institutions infrastructure claimed that the decision was influenced by commercial interests.

"The report is indictment on the failure by the council whose mandate is to set and maintain standards relating to curricula and mode of quality education, why then did they take an action when they had already placed a moratorium on admission of students," he posed.

The CLE executive officer Professor Kulundu Bitonye in a letter dated 23rd September addressed to Moi University Vice Chancellor Professor Richard Mibey said the decision was reached following a review conducted on the institution on 28th August.

"The institution has scored poorly in all areas, particularly on curriculum and modes of delivery, academic staff and staff qualifications, infrastructure and library resources based on the inspection criteria which the institution must score at least 50 per cent,"

He added: "Although the council noted that efforts have been expended and some improvements made, the score attained during the inspection at 36 percent does not meet the threshold of 67 per cent for full accreditation."

As per the letter, CLE called on the institution to submit a closure plan within two months for consideration by the council.

The move comes a day after students issued a 48 hour ultimatum to the Council of Legal Education (CLE) to apologize over the decision they made ordering closure of the institution for not meeting the required standards.

Students led by their officials maintained that failure by the CLE to withdraw the report on the school, will force them to seek legal redress for defamation.

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

"There is no way our institution shall be closed, CLE went overboard by choosing to measure our credibility based on the infrastructural inadequacy," said Wabwire.