The submission featured below was drafted by a concerned Kenyan citizen and is addressed to Mr. Kituku Wambua, the Chief Executive Officer/Secretary at the Council of Legal Education.
The CLE is the only state organ with the mandate to oversee law education in the country, assess and allow the syllabuses of universities teaching law, and also administer exams for law graduates seeking to be admitted to the bar.
From a leaked e-mail seen by this blog, the petitioner seeks to invoke the constitutional provision of Article 35 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, to demand access to a multitude of information that he says will help unearth blatant examination fraud, award of fake grades, and financial scandals at the agency.
“Good evening Mr. Kitukuu Wambua.
Following the blatant examination fraud, award of fake grades/marks, and financial scandal at the Council of Legal Education (C.L.E) which runs deepest in the blood, veins, and DNA of the Council of Legal Education (C.L.E) staff, a crime, an irregularity and illegality which was initiated through the creed for financial greed nearly a decade ago or thereabout, and a scandal that has been brought to your attention more than twice and to the attention of the Council of Legal Education (C.L.E) more than a hundred times, I as a tax-paying member of the Kenyan public, do hereby invoke the constitutional provision of Article 35 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, to demand access to the following information from you and the Council of Legal Education (C.L.E).
(1). Certified electronic logs of all the electronic entries of grades from 2016 to 2022. Such electronic logs must entail the November Bar examinations, remarks, and resits results.
(2). Certified electronic audit trails of all entries of grades and all changes of grades therein, and certified, dated, and signed communication from the Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Council, which authorized, any such changes of entries of grades electronically, with concrete grounds for such electronic alterations of entries.
(3). Names and professional competencies, including proof of valid certifications and licensing, of all the examiners who have set Bar Examinations from 2016 to 2022.
(4). Names and professional competencies, including proof of valid professional certifications and licensing of all the markers who have marked Bar Examinations from 2016 to 2022. These must include those who have been remarking as well.
(5). Names and professional competencies, including proof of valid professional certifications and licensing, of the Quality Assurance personnel who have moderated Bar Examinations from 2016 to 2022.
(6). Certified hard copies of the marking scheme for each unit, since 2016 to 2022, including the marking schemes for resits.
I need this information because, as a Kenyan; I am constitutionally entitled to it and since it can never be anywhere near classified information, you must provide it and you shall provide it.
Secondly, I need it to prove to the taxpayers that every year, at least 30% of the newly admitted ‘Advocates’ have been buying their ways to the bar of the Council of Legal Education (C.L.E).
Most importantly, I need this information to press charges against specific employees who have been trading the future of innocent young people, with their insatiable appetite for quick riches.
If you ever imagine that you shall treat this lightly and ignore it the way the Council of Legal Education (C.L.E) has been dismissive of such claims, then we shall move to court under the provisions of Article 23 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, and o force you and the Council of Legal Education (C.L.E) to provide the same.
This means we shall be cross-examining you alongside the other academic thugs you call your junior staff in an open courtroom, who have been at the center of this mess,” the petitioner writes.
In recent years, the KSL which is the trainer, and the Council of Legal Education (CLE), regulator and examiner, have come under pressure due to the high failure rate of students in the professional examinations that lead to admission to the bar yet they have completed university education.
