MPs have directed AG Kihara Kariuki to propose changes to the two legislations that established the Kenya School of Law and the Council of Legal Education as independent institutions.
The legislators say the changes will arrest the mass failure of students at the Kenya School of Law.
A record 80 per cent of students who sat the exams in November last year failed.
Only 308 out of the 1, 572 students from 38 local and international universities passed the test.
The National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs Committee has linked the growing trend of mass failures of the Bar examinations to the weaknesses of laws and policies.
Yesterday, the committee demanded changes to the Kenya School of Law Act, 2012 and the Legal Education Act, 2012 that set up KSL and CLE.
The Baringo North MP William Cheptumo-chaired committee is investigating the cause of the failures which has caused a public uproar.
“We want you to bring to us the legislative proposals that can address this problem once and for all. Look at all the task force reports and bring to us informed proposals,” Cheptumo said.
Cheptumo spoke during the questioning of the AG, Kenya School of Law acting executive officer Henry Mutai and Council of Legal Education director Jacob Gakeri over the failures.
The call followed submissions by Gakeri that they only administer and mark exams but do not play any part in the training of the law student.
“There is a serious disconnect because it cannot be the body that trains is not the one that sets and the one that marks and moderates exams,” he said.
Gakeri told the committee that the law only mandates CLE to hire a team of professionals to mark and moderate exams that are set by lecturers at the KSL.
The MPs also want the courses offered at the KSL reduced from the current nine to five saying the units could be too many and irrelevant for the law students.
The legislators further want the training fees reduced and the fees for remarking and resetting the exams scrapped.
They said that the high fees could be the motivation to fail the students.
Currently, students pay Sh145,000 for the training which is broken down in Sh15,000 per unit, Sh5,000 for pupillage and a similar amount for the library.
Students are also charged at Sh5,000 per unit for exams, Sh10,000 for resit per unit and Sh15,000 for a remark per unit.
“The costs are not set arbitrarily by the KSL or CLE. These are set out in the Legal Notice No. 196 of 2011. KSL and CLE are not profit-making organisations,” Gakeri said.
The payment the CLE receives from examinations from various examinations and licensing are part of the appropriation in aid that is budgeted for, he said.
Kihara agreed that there was a need to amend the law but warned that it should be done with a lot of care so as not to jeopardise the entire legal profession.
“We should not rush to change the law and bring down the entire profession. During our time, lectures at the KSL used to deal with only about 60 students. Today, a lecturer handles over 800 students,” Kihara said.
The AG said that he was waiting for the Kenya Institute of Policy Research Analysis to finalise its report on the factors contributing to low pass rates at the KSL by the end of August.
Kihara said that he will scrutinise the report together with the one filed by a task force formed by the boards of KSL before coming up with changes to the laws.
He will report to the panel on September 9.
(edited by O. Owino)
