The Ebola outbreak forced the Law Development Centre to go virtual. But the fees are very much physical. Graduates are not happy.
Bar Course graduates at the Law Development Centre were expecting to walk across a stage on June 19. Instead, they will be watching a livestream on television, radio, or LDC’s social media platforms — and paying UGX 400,000 for the privilege.
The Law Development Centre released a statement on June 9, 2026 confirming that its 53rd Graduation Ceremony, Part II will be held virtually on Friday, June 19, 2026 at 8:30 AM. The reason is legitimate enough — LDC sought clearance from the Ministry of Health to hold a physical ceremony, was denied due to the ongoing Ebola outbreak, and resolved to go online to protect public health.
Nobody is disputing the Ebola decision. What graduates are disputing is being asked to pay UGX 400,000 in graduation fees to attend a Zoom meeting.
LDC’s statement attempts to clarify the fee structure. The UGX 400,000 is actually two separate charges:
UGX 200,000 — the graduation fee, which LDC says covers the graduation service whether you attend physically or virtually, is paid to Uganda Revenue Authority as Non-Tax Revenue, and generates no direct financial benefit for LDC.
UGX 200,000 — for the diploma certificate and transcript, which every graduate is entitled to.
LDC’s statement insists: “The UGX 200,000 graduation fee is not a ‘physical graduation fee’: it pays for the graduation service, whether a graduand attends physically or virtually.”
Graduates have heard this explanation. They are not particularly comforted by it.
Here is the maths as graduates are running it:
You paid UGX 6,000,000 in tuition fees for the Bar Course. You studied. You passed. You qualified. You are now being asked to pay an additional UGX 400,000 — UGX 200,000 of which is explicitly for a ceremony that has been moved online due to circumstances beyond your control.
The ceremony will be broadcast on television, radio, and social media. Your physical attendance is not required. In fact, physical attendance is being restricted — only the best-performing students, each with one parent or guardian, and designated staff will be allowed to attend in person.
Everyone else watches from home. And pays UGX 200,000 for that experience.
As one graduate put it simply: “paying 400K for a Zoom meeting is crazy.”
LDC’s Counter-Argument
The institution is not unaware of the optics. The statement addresses the fee directly, noting that “a virtual ceremony is not cheap or cost-free, as it still involves venue preparation, arrangements for limited physical attendance and substantial live-streaming costs.”
That is true as far as it goes. Live-streaming does cost money. Venue preparation for the limited physical attendance costs money. The ceremony being online does not mean it costs nothing to produce.
But the question graduates are asking is not whether LDC spends money on the ceremony. It is whether the graduation service fee — a charge tied specifically to the graduation event — should be reduced, waived, or adjusted when that event has been downgraded from a physical ceremony to a broadcast.
LDC’s answer, implicit in the statement, is no.
Academic documents will be available for collection on the following dates:
AY 2024/2025: Monday, June 22, 2026 AY 2023/2024: Tuesday, June 23, 2026 AY 2022/2023 and previous years: Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Collection time is 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM each day.
This story does not exist in isolation. It follows a letter from Bar Course graduate Prosper Ahabwe Julian — filed at the Director’s office and stamped received — arguing that the UGX 400,000 graduation fee was not part of his original contract with LDC and demanding it be withdrawn. It follows weeks of debate among graduates about whether fees introduced after contracts were signed are legally enforceable.
LDC’s June 9 statement is, in part, a response to that pressure — an attempt to clarify what the money is for and where it goes. Whether it satisfies the graduates who have been pushing back is a different question.
The ceremony is June 19. The fee is UGX 400,000. The livestream link will be on social media.
Dress code has not been confirmed.
