Mabikke fails to overturn revoked LDC certificate 

Former Makindye East Member of Parliament Michael Mabikke has lost a case in which he had sued the Law Development Centre (LDC) for having revoked his Post Graduate Diploma award in legal practice.
Presiding High Court Judge Boniface Wamala in his March 31 ruling held that the method used by Mr Mabikke to lodge his case before the court was not proper and that the same amounted to abuse of the court process.
“In the premises, bringing an action for enforcement of human rights by way of an ordinary suit through a plaint is an incurable defect. This point of objection also succeeds,” ruled Justice Wamala.
He added: “The part of the claim that seeks to impeach and quash the report and proceedings of the Dr Pamela Tibihikira Committee is wrongly before the court since it could only be properly pursued by way of judicial review.”
Mr Mabikke yesterday told this publication that he was in a meeting and promised to comment on the matter later.  But after an hour, he didn’t answer our repeated phone calls.
Mr John Musiime from Dentons, the law firm that represented LDC in court, yesterday said: “Courts have insisted that whether you (students) have passed or not, it’s the matter of the institution to decide that since they are the ones that have professional expertise. The idea of litigation by students is wrong.”
Background
Court records show that on September 3, 2010, Mr Mabikke was awarded a Post Graduate Diploma in legal practice by the LDC.
However, following numerous complaints about examination malpractice, an audit committee was established to investigate the alleged examination malpractice between 2004 and 2011. In its preliminary report, the audit committee found, among others, that there were discrepancies in the award of the Post Graduate Diploma to Mr Mabikke.
Another sub-committee was instituted that was headed by Dr Pamela Tibihikira, and on November 30, 2015, it submitted its report, recommending that Mr Mabikke’s award be revoked.
Appeal
Indeed, LDC went ahead and revoked his award. But being dissatisfied with the findings of the audit committee by Dr Tibihikira, the former opposition legislator in 2020, sued LDC, stating that the grounds to have his award revoked were unconstitutional.
Mr Mabikke was one of the nine lawyers whose Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice was annulled in 2016 for having been found guilty of engaging in examination malpractice.