April 16th - 21st 2007

The Chairman of the Council of Legal Education, Hon. Mr. Justice Emannuel O’Kubasu, JA, the Chairman of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Council, Prof. Githu Muigai and the Secretary of the Council, Prof. W. Kulundu-Bitonye, EBS, were on a study tour in South Africa recently.

They interacted with various South African Government agents and later paid a courtesy call to the High Commissioner in Pretoria . While at the Chancery, the trio met the Diplomatic staff and also briefed Kenyans on progress towards harmonizing training needs regarding the legal fraternity.

During the briefing session at the Kenya High Commission, the delegation noted as follows:

• Although Kenya has undergone great social, economic and political transformation since independence in 1963, there has been little or no corresponding development in the law and its institutions. Most of the laws on Kenya ’s statute books, its structures and institutions were conceived and nurtured with the advent of political independence. This dichotomy has rendered most of Kenya ’s law and its institutions irrelevant or ineffectual.

• One of the most glaring area where Kenya ’s institutions have not responded to the needs of the times has been in the area of legal education and training. It is trite knowledge that there has been little or no development in the infrastructure and training programmes in law to meet the challenges of the 21 st Century. The legal training offered in Kenya ’s tertiary institutions is little suited to impart the competences required to face the many challenges of the 21 st century. There is therefore an urgent need to develop new strategies and to invest in the development of institutional infrastructure and human resources in this regard.

• In addressing some of the issues linked to education and training for a competent legal profession, both the pre- and post-colonial governments have undertaken various initiatives and set up commissions of inquiry to formulate appropriate policy. Some of these include the establishment of The Kenya School of Law following recommendations by the Denning Committee (1962) to provide vocational legal training. In an attempt to streamline and re-organise the Kenya School of Law in the 1990s the Akiwumi Committee (1995) on the Status and Management of the School of Law was appointed. The Kwach Committee (1998) on the Administration of Justice was similarly appointed to look into wider issues pertaining to the administration of justice.

• The recommendations of the Akiwumi Report culminated in the re-establishment of the Council of Legal Education under the Council of Legal Education Act, Cap 16A of the Laws of Kenya. Although the Council of Legal Education was bestowed with legal personality, the Kenya School of Law was made its operational agent under the Act, thereby making the Council ineffectual. The operations of both the Council of Legal Education and the Kenya School of Law have thus become intertwined and confused.

• To address the problems and confusion created by the Akiwumi Report, the Muigai-Ministerial Committee on the Development of a Policy and Legal Framework for Legal Education and Training in Kenya (2005) was appointed. The Muigai Committee has undertaken a comprehensive re-evaluation of legal education and training in Kenya and made recommendations to re-design and re-establish all legal institutions implementing legal policy in Kenya . The impetus of these recommendations was to institutionalize international best practice and segregate institutions carrying out regulatory cum supervisory functions from those carrying out training functions. In essence, policy formulation and oversight within the context of legal education have to be separated from policy consumption at the training level.

The delegation also informed Kenyans that the Muigai report was officially launched by the Minister of Justice & Constitutional Affairs, the Hon. Ms. Martha Karua, EGH, MP on 18 th January, 2006 . The Council of Legal Education/Kenya School of Law is in the process of implementing the recommendations in this report. It is against this background that the Council of Legal Education recommended that the Chairman of the Council, the Hon. Mr. Justice Emannuel O’Kubasu, JA, the Chairman of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Council, Prof. Githu Muigai and the Secretary of the Council, Prof. W. Kulundu-Bitonye , EBS made a study tour to the Republic of South Africa and other international jurisdictions for comparator purposes.

The Task Force visited the following institutions within the Republic of South Africa :

* Justice College , Department of Justice and Constitutional Affairs,
* The School of Practice (under the auspices of the Law Society of South Africa),
* The General Council of Law Society of South Africa and
* The High Court – the Pretoria Court.

The main objective of the mission was to share post University professional development and training initiatives and experiences undertaken by the various segments of the legal profession in South Africa . The mission observed that seeing what is being undertaken elsewhere in the world, the Kenya School of Law has repositioned itself to play a leading role as a world class legal training provider, grappling with issues which are common and have an international bearing to legal education and training world wide. Kenya ’s comparator study tours will also take the Task Force to the UK and India .