Mount Kenya University has been heavily criticized for having admitted a student to study for a Law Degree with no minimum academic qualifications. The matter has raised a lot of questions with players in the education sector asking whether the privately owned university has been turned into a money-making institution, with no regard for the affairs of students.
The victim in his case is former Mount Kenya University Law graduate, Samuel Kivuva Simon. He was left shocked after the Legal Education Appeals Tribunal dismissed his appeal against the Kenya School of Law after a ruling was made against him. Simon sued Kenya School of Law On 12th January 2023 after the School declined to recognise his admission into the Advocates Training Programme (“ATP”) for not having attained the statutorily prescribed grades in his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) grades.
The Legal Education Appeals Tribunal delivered the decision on 21st July 2023 by Rose Njoroge (Chairperson), Eunice Arwa and Raphael Wambua Kigamwa. In his appeal, Simon stated that he scored a mean grade of C(plain) in KCSE, a B(minus) in English and a C(plus) in Kiswahili and holds a Bachelor of Laws degree, 2nd Class Honours (Upper Division) from Mount Kenya University, which degree was attained on 9th December 2022. Before studying for his Bachelor of Laws degree, he had obtained a Diploma in Law from the Nairobi Institute of Business Studies.
However, Kenya School of Law declined his application for admission into the ATP on the basis that he does not qualify based on his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (“KCSE”) results. Simon claimed that the decision to decline his admission to the ATP was unfair, an infringement of his right to education and a misinterpretation of the law. He prayed that the decision of the director/chief executive officer of Kenya School of Law dated 12th January 2023 be quashed and that he be forthwith admitted to the ATP for the forthcoming academic year.
On the issue of academic progression, KSL submits that Simon does not qualify to be admitted to the ATP by reason of academic progression because the applicable law does not provide for academic progression. The tribunal noted that Simon scored a mean grade of C (plain) in KCSE, a B (minus) in English and a C (plus) in Kiswahili.
“Based therefore on a conjunctive interpretation, as propounded by the Court of Appeal, the Respondent’s decision declining the Appellant’s admission to the ATP is a correct one, since the Appellant failed to meet the minimum required English or Kiswahili languages grades in his KCSE examinations as embodied above”.
The ruling further reads “It is therefore the finding of this Tribunal that the Appellant is not qualified for admission under section 1 (a) of the Second Schedule to the Kenya School of Law Act, 2012”.The final orders read in part “THAT the appeal by Samuel Kivuva Simon as against the Respondent’s decisions declining admission to the Advocates Training Programme as communicated by the respondent by Dr. Henry K. Mutai – Director of the Kenya School of Law in the decisions dated 12th January, 2023 is dismissed”.
