Law Dev't Centre to open regional centers

By Moses Walubiri

KAMPALA - The Law Development Centre (LDC) will soon be decongested if government plans to open four constituent colleges come to fruition.

LDC, the only institute in Uganda that offers a Bar Course for intending advocates, currently has 650 students on the Bar Course.

The constituent colleges, according to Deputy Attorney General, Fred Ruhindi, will be set up in the four regions of the country – East, West, North and South – with the LDC main campus serving the central region.

"We hope this will help decongest LDC and improve quality of training," Ruhindi told lawmakers on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee.

 Ruhindi explained that LDC will supervise the four regional centers through setting and marking exams in order not to compromise quality.

However, with the whole venture requiring sh42b, Ruhindi did not put a time frame for implementation of the mooted developments.

The committee is handling a petition on under performance of LDC that, according to lead petitioner, Brian Bakampa, is manifested in higher failure rate of the Bar Course.

Bugweri County MP, Abdu Katuntu, though extolling government for the innovation said the whole venture will be a nonstarter if LDC is not allocated enough resources to attract the best legal minds in the country.

"LDC will not be able to attract senior lawyers to teach students if it's paying them peanuts. You need to solve this problem even before you set up these canters," Katuntu said.

Ruhindi who had Secretary of Law Council, Margaret Apiny, acting Solicitor General, Christopher Gashirabake and Director Civil Litigation, Cheborion Barishaki in tow said many of the complaints by the petitioners are "grossly unfounded"

One of the complaints by the petitioners is the absence of choice in exams set at LDC with a candidate obliged to answer all the questions in a given exam.

"You do not choose your clients. Clients with all sorts of problems come to you as an advocate. You will not tell clients that I was not taught this at school," Ruhindi said, advising students who cannot cope up with LDC's tough schedule to drop the course.

Early this week, LDC director, Frank Othembi told the committee that the institute bars students that have not attended 90% of lectures to sit exams in an effort to reduce failure rate.

"You cannot eat your cake and have it. It's a matter of choice. Those who want the course should find time to attend lectures," Ruhindi said.

Earlier, Abdu Katuntu had made a case for students juggling their time between studies and work, appealing to LDC administrators to be cognizant of the current realities.

In the same interface, MPs Fox Odoi, Wilfred Niwagaba and Katuntu pushed for an amendment of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) Act to allow professional bodies have a final say on which university has expertise to teach professional courses.

MPs contend that NCHE has no ability to assess the capacity of universities to offer courses like law, medicine, engineering, pharmacy and architecture. The lawmakers want the onus to fall on professional bodies like Law Council.


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