Government Intervenes to Enroll 1,640 Bar Course Applicants

In a move that will come as a relief to many aspiring lawyers, 1,640 applicants who missed out on the September 2024 intake at the Law Development Centre (LDC) will now be enrolled for the bar course in January 2025.

This follows the government's decision to provide additional funding to the institution.

The announcement was made in a letter by Uganda’s Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, who explained that the government's financial intervention would allow the LDC to admit the students who were previously left out due to a lack of resources.

"I am now pleased to inform you that the government has made available additional funds to LDC to facilitate the admission of the applicants who missed out on the last September intake, under a second intake in January 2025," Kiwanuka wrote in the letter.

The LDC, Uganda’s sole institution responsible for training legal professionals in the bar course, faced significant public criticism for failing to admit all qualified applicants for the 2024/2025 academic year.

The lack of funds to support the admission of the remaining students was initially cited as the cause of this shortfall.In the letter, Kiwanuka pointed out that the ongoing inability of the LDC to admit all qualified applicants stems from systemic challenges.

These include an increasing number of law schools and students, which have overwhelmed the LDC's capacity.

"As we observed during the meeting with stakeholders, the now persistent problem of LDC's inability to admit all the applicants in any given academic year is a consequence of factors beyond its control against the backdrop of a fundamentally changed academic landscape since the LDC’s inception at the beginning of 1970," the Attorney General noted.

To prevent this issue from recurring, Kiwanuka has instructed the Director of the LDC to work closely with key stakeholders, including the Uganda Law Society, to explore sustainable solutions.

He emphasized that the growing number of law students demands a thorough rethinking of how the LDC can continue to serve its mandate effectively in the long term.The additional funding and the January 2025 second intake represent a temporary solution to the current crisis.

However, the Attorney General's remarks suggest that broader reforms will be necessary to ensure that all qualified law graduates have access to the training they need to advance their legal careers in Uganda.

With the government's intervention, the LDC will now be able to accommodate the 1,640 students left out of the initial intake, ensuring that they can begin their bar course in January 2025.