The Society President, Simon Peter Kinobe, says the Advocates Act of 2002 instead gives the Law Council supervisory power and control of professional legal education in Uganda. Kinobe says the Law Council has a committee on Legal Education and Training that is charged with the mandate of professional legal education.
In the petition seen by URN, ULS contends that the amendment to extend the term of the current Parliament from five to seven years is inconsistent with Articles 1, 8a, 774 and 96 of the constitution. It also notes that the extension of the term of the District Councilors and Local Councilors is also inconsistent with Article 1, 8a, 774 and 96 of the Constitution.
The Committee Chairperson, Jacob Oboth-Oboth, the West Budama South MP, had given ULS another to appear following its failure to honor the first appointment on November 1, 2017. Gimara asked the Committee then to allow him to consult the ULS membership on the matter.
Francis Gimara, the Uganda Law Society- ULS President, has asked judicial officers to verify whether all persons appearing before them have valid practising certificates.
Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo has this afternoon been approved by parliaments appointments committee as new Deputy Chief Justice, URN has learnt. The committee chaired by Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah also approved Justices Paul Mugamba and Richard Buteera who were appointed by President Yoweri Museveni to the Supreme Court bench. Owiny-Dollo replaces Justice Steven Kavuma while Buteera and Mugamba replace Justices Jotham Tumwesigye and Augustine Nshimye, respectively, who have clocked the retirement age.
Francis Gimara, the ULS president told legislators that the retirement benefits sector is one of the most fragile sectors in the economy where strict regulatory and state control measures are required.
Francis Gimara, the President of Uganda Law Society ULS says the jurisdiction to hear and determine human rights related cases should be extended to the Magistrates Courts. Gimara was on Thursday appearing before parliaments legal committee currently scrutinising the Human Rights Enforcement bill, 2015.
Uganda Law Society President Francis Gimara says that the order sets a dangerous constitutional precedent with serious negative effects on the functioning of the legislative organ of state.
Uganda Law Society President Francis Gimara told journalists in Kampala this afternoon that if the police had restrained the demonstrators from besieging the court, ugly scenes witnessed in the precincts of Makindye Chief Magistrates Court could have been prevented.
Francis Gimara, the president Uganda Law Society, says courts are overwhelmed by the number of political disputes, which ideally require political solutions.
The 38-year old replaces Ruth Sebatindira who had been at the helm of the law society for the last three years. Her two year term was extended following the flop of last years elections over predetermined winners.
The lawyers also in their statement condemned the continued arrest of Dr Besigye, a scenario they say, does not augur well with the multi-party politics that Uganda subscribes to.
In his petition, Kanduho argues that he was elected for a five year term in 2013, which elapses in November 2018. According to Kanduho, immediately after his elections, Jennifer Musisi, the KCCA Executive Director, gave him instruments to run for five years.
The question on whether judges can rule against President Museveni in the event that the Electoral Commission declared another candidate winner of the 2016 presidential elections being discussed among lawyers.
A report by the Human Rights Network and Uganda Law Society shows that the absence of a regulatory framework to the recruitment, training and command of crime preventers may cause them to be misused, especially during elections.
The law body has also proposed an amendment to the qualification of a parliamentarian under Article (80) (1) of the constitution to provide that a member should be a graduate from a recognized university or institution. He or she should have attained the age of 25 years.
The resolution came after members declined to endorse Ernest Kalibbala as President and Hussein Kashillingi as Vice President of the Society. The two had been declared by the Returning Officer before this Annual General Meeting on ground that they were unopposed.
During his term, Nyombi was uneven with his fellow lawyers who at one time suspended him from the umbrella body for two years. The suspension and the eventual issuance of the certificate of incompetence was effected in an extra ordinary meeting which accused him of ill advising President Museveni on a number of controversial issues.
According to Sebatindira, the delayed appointment of the chief justice implies that the Judiciary in Uganda continues to be treated as an irrelevant institution, run under scandalous and unconstitutional circumstances despite it being the vanguard of the Constitution and other laws of the land.
