• The Council for Legal Education which administers the exam says it failed to get government authorisation
The bar exams for trainee advocates have been put off indefinitely after the Council for Legal Education failed to get government authorisation to administer the tests.
The Council for Legal Education said in a notice that its efforts to obtain authorisation from the ministries of Health and Interior to conduct the exam did not bear fruits.
Strict Covid-19 prevention protocols require that the council gets official authorisation to conduct such exams.
"Regrettably, the council is yet to receive the requisite approval and concurrence to administer the ATP examinations," the council said in a notice to the candidates.
The bar exams were scheduled to run from Tuesday, April 13 to Friday, April 23.
The notice signed by the agency's boss JK Gakeri says the council "will continue to liaise with relevant government agencies and closely monitor public health and safety guidelines to inform its decision in relation to the scheduled ATP examinations".
It will give sufficient notice to the candidates about the next dates of the exams.
Last week, the Star reported that that confusion had marred the administration of the exams after the council failed to provide clear guidelines barely days to the start of the tests.
But the postponement of the tests appeared inevitable with Gakeri on Thursday saying he was not sure whether the exams would proceed and how, given the restrictions imposed by the state to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stakeholders complain of shambolic preparations that have gone into planning for the exam.
The confusion came to light when Law Society of Kenya president Nelson Havi complained that the council had not given any information to the candidates on whether the tests were to be conducted.
It had not given exam credentials including badges as well as how those locked out of the city would sit the test.
“CLE bar exams [are] to be administered in six days. No communication whatsoever. No exam centres. No exam cards,” Havi said wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
“Some candidate's exam applications have not been approved. Candidates are still locked out of the zoned area. Council of Legal Education, please attend to this matter," he added.
The chairman of the society’s Nairobi branch Erick Theuri also decried the lack of information, calling on the council to “at minimum communicate the exam modalities”.
“Uncertainty doesn't aid exam preparations. These are unusual times. Managing mental anguish during such times ought to be a paramount consideration,” Theuri said.
The centres for the test included the Kenya School of Law, the Bomas of Kenya, the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology Karen campus, Cooperative University and Kasneb Tower in the city centre.
The council is the only state agency with the mandate to oversee law education in the country, assess and authorise the syllabuses of universities teaching law and also administer exams for law graduates seeking to be admitted to the bar.
Edited by P.O