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{
"id": 288415,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/288415/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wamalwa",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 148,
"legal_name": "Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa",
"slug": "eugene-wamalwa"
},
"content": "We believe that it is essential, in order for the rule of law to be adhered to and for justice to be upheld in this country, to have training of lawyers to not just good standards but to international standards in order for them to serve effectively, compete and uphold international standards in the practice of law in our country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as a result of this, we have come up with a Bill to address all the recommendations that had been made by the task force to ensure that we deal with the problem of a lack of law separating the CLE from the LSK. We are, therefore, proposing to separate the CLE from the KSL. That is why we have two Bills before this House today. One Bill will specifically be dealing with the KSL and the second Bill will be dealing with the CLE. In order to deal with the second concern and the specific recommendations made, in terms of proliferation of legal education providers, this Bill has specific provisions for effective control and supervision of quality education and training in our legal institutions. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a third area this Bill is addressing, there being a minimal modernisation and release of programmes and curricula, our legal training institutions have to keep pace with the emerging challenges. So, these are areas of concern as I move debate on this Bill today, informed by the recommendations of the task force that I have referred to. The specific provisions are contained in the various parts of this Bill. Looking at the Bill, it will impact on the establishment of the School. Part I of the Bill seeks to provide for the powers and functions of the School. These are provided for under Clause 3 through to Clause 15. These are the specific provisions that will now establish the Kenya School of Law, the Board and its functions. I believe hon. Members have gone through the Bill and are familiar with the provisions. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other section after the establishment of the School and its functions, right from Section 16 to 17 is to deal with the issue of admissions. We have had problems where in our School of Law, particularly when in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s we had only one faculty, standards were upheld. Top students from all schools joined the Faculty of Law, University of Nairobi because they were the best, had passed their exams highly and we had no doubt about their qualifications. However, when with time we had many students going to other countries, the issue of admission was a serious area of concern because you could find students who had not performed well and had not met the requirements to join our universities still finding a way round to go to the School of Law. Sections 16 and 17 provide for requirements on admission. To improve quality in terms of lawyers, there will be stringent provisions that ensure only persons who qualify are admitted to the School of Law. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, under Section 16, the specific provision is that a person shall not qualify for admission to a course of study at the school unless that person has met the admission requirements set out in the Second Schedule. The Second Schedule sets out the requirements and all those going to our School of Law will now have to satisfy the requirements on admission for them to be admitted. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we move on to Part 5, we also have to ensure that the content that is administered to our students also upholds the standards required. Therefore, we are providing for academic programmes, standards in examining our students and conferment of academic awards. This right from Section 18, 19 all the way to 20 gives the new requirements that will ensure standards in programmes, in what students are taught and eventually the awards that they receive, having satisfied the examiners as provided under that part. Eventually, we move on to Part 6 where we are looking at the financial provisions. Because of time I wish not to take up most of the afternoon. I also want to give other hon. Members time to contribute to this. In essence, this Bill targets and intends to set standards to regulate and eventually ensure that we get quality lawyers to serve this country in the 21st century. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is the Bill that we have separated from the council of legal education. We will request hon. Members to support this Bill. With those few remarks, I beg to move and request the hon. Attorney-General to second."
}