Court to hear law students' petition against LDC

The High Court has allowed students of the Law Development Center (LDC) to present their case in which they are challenging new fees imposed on them during supplementary examinations.

Granting the students a certificate of urgency, Justice Musa Ssekaana said he will hear the student's complaints during the court vacation that started on July 15 and ends on August 15.

"It is in the interest of justice that the application for an interim order is heard on court vacation," he ruled.

Ssekaana said if the application is not heard, the students risk being stopped from academic activities and sitting for examinations.

The ruling follows submissions by lawyer Isaac Ssemakadde, who told the court that the students risk losing the opportunity of safeguarding the loss of academic opportunity and money.

"If the application is granted, the students still have an opportunity to continue with their studies. The students also seek to safeguard their constitutional right," he argued.

Last week, two law students pursuing their bar course at LDC petitioned the High Court challenging new fees slapped on supplementary exams, describing them as irregular.

Godfrey Akampulira and Simon Peter Oriokot allege that LDC through its director, Frank Nigel Othiembi, deliberately fail students with an aim of extorting money from them through supplementary exams. The two represent over 250 students.

In a suit filed through Mukwatiriri, Natweta and Company Advocates, the students accuse the LDC management of maliciously recording lower marks in the supplementary exams they had passed with the intention of charging them repeating fees of sh2.5m for the failed subjects.

They also accuse LDC of failure to administer supplementary exams for them until February after other students had done theirs.

The applicants claim that the fees for the supplementary exams were without their knowledge increased by 200% on December 12 last year after other students had done theirs.

The students purport that LDC introduced supplementary exams and weekly individual tests and subjected these to a few selected students including those who passed the major exams with an intention of defrauding them.

According to the petitioners, they signed rules that would govern their contractual obligations for the course and that they were given the fees structure and the supplementary examination charge which was sh100,000 per subject being taken.

They, however, claim that on June 14, Othiembi allegedly called a meeting after receiving a notice of intention to sue and informed students to begin studies with the objective of repeating failed subjects in the fourth term.

"We followed Othiembi's directive and commenced studies until July 12 when the second defendant surprised them with an email advising them to stop attending classes, wait and apply to be admitted for the academic year 2019/20 upon paying an admission fee of sh200,000," Akampulira the lead petitioner contends.

The petitioners were admitted to the bar course on September 27, 2017, for the academic year 2017/18.

The applicants, however, say few of them were allowed to continue with their studies upon payment of re-admission fees and that LDC has continued to charge admission fees purporting to be re-admission to already admitted students.

They also accuse LDC of the delayed release of exams in addition to the introduction of rules that provide for the examination of subjects not taught and payment of tuition before the commencement of the term.

They accused LDC of breach of contract and want the court to direct LDC to produce their examination answer scripts for cooperate and commercial practice sat in August last year and for supplementary examinations taken in February, with their respective marking guides.

The petitioners want a declaration that sitting exams a year after the subsequent academic year is unfair and unreasonable.

They further want an order quashing the re-admission and repeating fees as well as an order stopping the defendants from examining the course they do not teach.