By Spy Uganda
After decades of unquestioned control, the Law Development Centre (LDC) is now at the centre of a national reckoning over the quality and future of Uganda’s legal training.
Cabinet has approved the repeal of the Law Development Centre Act, Cap 251 — a move that could finally break LDC’s 55-year monopoly as the sole provider of the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, the mandatory Bar course required to practice law in Uganda.
The decision follows mounting pressure from legal education stakeholders who say the centre has become overwhelmed, underperforming, and out of touch with the evolving demands of modern legal training.
“There are now 3,000 students. What mentoring and coaching is going on at LDC? There is none. So does it make sense to continue pretending that you are teaching quality?” questioned Justice Irene Mulyagonja, Chairperson of the Uganda Law Council, in a striking rebuke.
Established in 1970 to shape Uganda’s legal minds, the LDC was once a highly selective institution, admitting just a few hundred students annually. But in recent years, a surge in the number of law graduates — now streaming in from 19 accredited universities — has overwhelmed the centre.
The scrapping of pre-entry exams two years ago accelerated enrolment from 500 to over 3,000 annually, turning what was once a hub of legal apprenticeship into what critics describe as a crowded lecture factory.
“The institution is no longer capable of offering the mentorship, supervision, or hands-on training the Bar course was designed for,” added Prof. Ben Twinomugisha, a retired law professor. “LDC has outlived its original model. Reform is overdue.”
Under the proposed changes, the government will establish a National Legal Examinations Centre (NLEC), which will become the central body responsible for examining students from various accredited law schools and Bar course centres across the country.
“Cabinet has approved and commenced the process of repealing the Law Development Centre Act… to enable the decentralisation of the training of the Post-graduate Diploma in Legal Practice programme by accredited centres and accredited law schools,” reads part of an LDC statement dated August 4.
Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka sought to calm quality concerns, saying all students — regardless of training centre — would have to pass a unified bar examination to qualify.
“This won’t be the first place to run unified Bar exams. The quality will now be judged at the final gate,” he said.
Justice Minister Norbert Mao likened the shift to sports training: “It doesn’t matter if you train in Kapchorwa or Kampala. What matters is whether you win the race.”
The LDC’s own officials now appear to be in support of the reforms. Spokesperson Frank Obonyo noted that Uganda is following a trend seen across Africa, including in Ghana, where multiple institutions offer Bar training while a central body handles examinations.
“Liberalisation is inevitable. The model of a single institution serving thousands no longer works. We must evolve,” Obonyo said.
Even former LDC director Frank Nigel Othembi — who once warned of the chaos liberalisation might unleash — has now admitted that the current system is unsustainable.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. LDC needs to try something different,” Othembi said on August 5.
The timeline for implementation remains unclear, but the process has already begun. Legal training institutions are expected to apply for accreditation under the new system, and reforms could reshape the country’s legal landscape within the next few years.
While critics fear the potential for uneven standards, supporters argue that with proper regulation and unified examinations, Uganda can produce better, more practically trained lawyers than ever before.
For the first time in over five decades, Uganda’s legal education is on the cusp of a transformation — one that promises to end monopoly, revive quality, and usher in a new era of competition, innovation, and accessibility.
