Judiciary asks for list of 30 lawyers

“During his guidance on the measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the President directed that only 30 advocates will be permitted to practice at a time. The purpose of this letter is to request you forward to us the schedule of the advocates choosen to practice in line with the presidential directive,” Mr Chemutai wrote to ULS president.

“The information is required in order for the courts to abide by the directives,” he added.

To make selection
Ms Pheona Wall Nabasa, the ULS vice president, said they would come up with a fair criteria of picking the advocates.

“While we would have wished for a larger quota, we have to start with what we have been given. The ULS Council will meet today (yesterday) to determine the criteria which we shall share later,” Ms Nabasa said.

“We need to be aware that with more than 900 law firms and 3,500 advocates, this will be no mean feat but we promise a fair evidence-based criteria that will serve for now as we appeal for a larger and more representative quota,” she added.

Mr Museveni allowed factories and agricultural firms, among other activities to continue operating.

Advocates dissatisfied with Museveni directive on 30 lawyers

Lawyers are dissatisfied with the decision by President Museveni to allow only 30 of them to work during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The lawyers, who described the President’s directive as “ambiguous,” argued that he should have recognised all of them (about 3,500) as essential workers rather than applying a piece-meal method.

While addressing the nation on Monday, Mr Museveni allowed the Uganda Law Society (ULS) a quota of 30 lawyers at a time, to provide urgent legal services to businesses and those being arraigned before court.

“Thirty lawyers to work throughout the whole of Uganda! The President should have allowed all of us to work as essential workers if he was really serious. How come he did not give a certain percentage for insurers or those working in garages?” Ms Slyvia Namubiru Mukasa, the executive director of Legal Aid Service Providers Network, said yesterday.

“How about the client-lawyer choice; will they be forcing the few selected lawyers on clients who might not want them? We are not satisfied with this directive and we hope the ULS will challenge this,” Ms Namubiru added.

Mr Anthony Wameli, an advocate whose law firm recently filed a case seeking court orders to recognise lawyers as essential workers during the lockdown, also expressed the same concerns.

“His (Mr Museveni) orders are very ambiguous, 30 lawyers at a time? Which timeframe did he mean? Lawyers neither work at one law firm nor are they in one place at a time. What criteria will ULS be using to pick the 30 lawyers?” Mr Wameli asked.

Contention
“The President brought on board lawyers to fight business fraudsters and yet in our petition now before court, we want lawyers to defend those whose human rights have been abused, especially during the lockdown. His directives on how many lawyers should be allowed to work was subjudice since court is set to pass its ruling in the same subject tomorrow,” he added.

Ms Pheona Wall Nabasa, the ULS vice president, said following the President’s directive, they would come up with a criteria of picking the 30 lawyers.

“There have been a lot of arrests during this season and many clients have not had access to their lawyers. This is why we have been insisting that having left courts open, lawyers need to be declared an essential service,” Ms Nabasa said.

In Kenya, the High Court on April 16 ordered the Nairobi establishment to quickly include lawyers on the list of “service, personnel or workers,” the equivalent of essential workers.

Presiding judge W Korir in his ruling said his decision was so that they can be extra vigilant when the State is exercising emergency powers and offer legal aid to those in need.

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