The issue of whether pre-entry examinations to enter the Law Development Center (LDC) have been scrapped or not is still an unresolved matter five days later after parliament made the “directive” in the plenary to scrap them. There has not been any official communication from LDC as to their position.
Powerful figures in the Uganda, up in the food chain, have rather maintained a debate and kept on beating around the bush and are avoiding making a conclusive decision on the matter, an answer that many bothered students are tentatively waiting for.
The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has a legal mandate to guide the public on all matters touching and incidental to the law which explains their involvement with the issue of the pre-entry.
On his Facebook page yesterday, the President of the ULS, Simon Peter Kinobe, popularly identified as S.P Kinobe, shared that he had a meeting with the Speaker of Parliament where the society was trying understand the decision that the parliament had made, and also advice on the same.
“The speaker clarified that parliament has not scrapped pre-entry exams at the Law Development Center” reads the post. “It simply made a recommendation to the executive.”
The ULS also released a statement about the pre-entry arguing that the issue of the pre-entry is the mandate of the Law Council to regulate.
“We are of the view that it is the mandate of the Law Council to regulate the pre-entry exams, assess its relevance and determine its removal and not parliament,” the statement reads.
The statement in its justification for the pre-entry exams adds that the instrument, The Advocates (Professional Requirements for Admission to Post-Graduate Bar Course) (Amendment) Notice, 2010, that created the pre-entry was enacted for the purposes of quality and standards control.
Speaking in a television interview today morning, the S.P Kinobe mentioned that education was not about fairness.
“Education isn’t about fairness, it has to follow procedure because we wouldn’t want to pass out people who don’t fully understand the law,” he said.
He added that the issue of pre-entry was a creature of statute created by the law council try and sieve out the nature of lawyers passed out.
“Parliament should know that what was set up by law can only be reversed by that and not a directive” he advised.
The president went on to criticize the current system of accrediting universities to teach the law as being “too political.”
“Education has become too political” he said adding that some universities that have been accredited do not even have the necessary credentials to train lawyers.
He mentioned that law and politics are a very interesting concept. “We are entering a season of rule by law as opposed to rule of law and that’s a dangerous stage we need to look out for.”
The position by ULS does not give the conclusive position as to whether the pre-entry still remains or is to be scrapped, but law students are of the opinion that ULS is official enough to tell the position that will be taken about the pre-entry.
We are waiting to hear or read from the position that the LDC would be taking, and Campus Bee will keep you posted as the story develops.
