Take your place in influencing legislation, Speaker Oulanyah tells lawyers

Speaker Jacob Oulanyah has addressed the Annual General Meeting of the Uganda Law Society, with the message that the body should make efforts to contribute and enrich laws being considered by Parliament.

At the Mestil Hotel in Kampala, Oulanyah said it is the profession’s responsibility to guide the country on matters of law as mandated under the Uganda Law Society Act.

“You [Uganda Law Society] have to ensure that no law is passed without your input. On the side of Parliament, we are ready to welcome you,” he said.

The legal profession, he said, should continue to dwell in the prevailing calmness, drawing parallels with previous times when annual general meetings were grounds for war and chaos.

Ms Pheona Wall, the Uganda Law Society president, said the society is interested in engaging in bills processing.

“We commit to give input in all the bills because we now have specialized clusters; make it a pre-requisite for the law society to appear and give it’s views to committees processing Bills,” she said.

Earlier, Pheona Wall had made a case for the principle of separation of powers, saying Parliament should guard its space.

“We hope that we will see Parliament fight for its independence,” she said.
Oulanyah guided that the way principles of separation of powers is referred to, makes it look like the three arms should be in constant loggerhead, whereas not.
“There seems to be some dramatization of this independence and we send the wrong signals as if we should have walls between these arms of government; It is not stated as if it is independence where nobody touches the other,” he said.

The reasons the arms of government exist, said Oulanyah, is to serve the citizens of Uganda, and that for this reason they must find synergy to work together harmoniously to deliver on the agenda to extend services to Ugandans.
Speaker Oulanyah also handed an award of recognition to Mr Sternford Moyo, President of the International Bar Association (IBA), in honour of his numerous support to the Uganda Law Society Legal Aid Clinic.