Kenya addresses status of law students

A task force appointed by the Kenyan government in 2016 has proposed that non-EAC members be barred from the country's Advocates Training Programme (ATP) at the Kenya School of Law. The Task Force on Legal Sector Reforms submitted to the National Assembly by Attorney General Kihara Kariuki notes that the enrolment of ‘non-Kenyans’ to the programme ‘should be stopped forthwith, unless candidates demonstrate eligibility within sections 12 and 13 of the Advocates Act of the laws of Kenya’. Sections 12 of the Act requires one to be a citizen of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Burundi, and duly qualified as an advocate to practise law in Kenya. The East African reports that South Sudan became a member of the EAC in 2016, but the Act has not been amended to include it. Section 13 sets out the professional and academic qualifications for admission as an advocate.