The Chief Justice, Alfonse Owiny Dollo, has urged bar members in the Uganda Law Society to stop behaving as activists in a trade union. Dollo emphasized the organization members’ essential position as court officers and their obligation to provide services rather than just sell goods.
On Wednesday, during the Bar-Bench Forum 2024, which took place at the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, the CJ challenged Bar members to reevaluate how they see themselves and how they set themselves apart from other professions. He made a point of saying that their organization is a society for court officials committed to helping people who are seeking justice, not a labor union.
“First of all, your role is that of an officer of the court, not a lawyer for someone that’s secondary! That’s why you are certified by the court every year, not a trading license, because you’re not traders that sell commodities, you provide services and this is a great honor for each of us to be able to provide a professional service to justice seekers,” he said.
He emphasized how crucial it is to acknowledge that you are an officer of the court, and your first responsibility is to make sure that justice is served. His words were, “You are an officer of the court, and your primary responsibility is to the court to ensure that justice is served.”
“The Law Society is what you make it; you can either choose to make it that admirable society of legal professionals or, as the Attorney General has said, you can decide to be a trade unionist,” Dollo remarked, underscoring the crucial function that the organization plays.
“You can decide to be a trade unionist over whatever matters,” he repeated, issuing a clear call to action. Dollo’s words are a clear call to action for lawyers to fulfill their obligations to the court and to pursue greatness in the legal community.”
He urged that, in the social media-dominated age we live in today, there is an overwhelming amount of information available. However, it will take considerable discernment for a lawyer to separate the important insights from the noise.
“Nevertheless, in the midst of all the chaos, I would like to express my gratitude to the President of the Uganda Law Society for being the first to organize and lead this event. We are able to have productive conversations on these platforms, aiming to reach consensus and comprehension.”
He added, “The fact that your’s is a certificate not given by KCCA but given by the Chief Registry to certify you annually, and if we do that, we shall make a strong law society and a robust judiciary acting together to foster justice and rule of law in our country. However, that doesn’t mean that I compromise my decision, but this will help me benefit from such an arrangement.”
The Chief Justice also urged the attorneys not to desist from criticizing his management if there is anything that has gone wrong; he, however, urged them to use better channels not social media. “To me, as long as I’m still the head of the judiciary, I will be very disappointed if you can not criticize the Chief Justice, or the management or administration of the judiciary, as long as you know your criticism will help to drive us to a better administration.”
The Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, also urged the members of the legal fraternity to understand that the legal profession is a noble job that requires the utmost integrity to maintain public trust. He also emphasized that the independence of justice in the courts does not necessarily mean operating outside the leadership of the three arms of government but rather the independence of the judicial officer in executing justice in a given case.
“No doubt we all want to have an independent judiciary, but an independent judiciary is independence in decision making, it’s not independent of Uganda; we must be very clear about that. Therefore, when we are dealing with issues of the independence of the judiciary, we must know that the Judiciary, Executive and the Legislature will continue to communicate on matters affecting different arms of government, both amongst themselves and between themselves,” he said.
As the head of the country’s bar, Kiwanuka called upon all the members of the bar to ensure that discipline does not spoil the integrity of their profession because they are officers to justice seekers.
“On the issue of discipline, honorable members, I want to leave three questions for you; How do we raise our concerns through whistleblowing? Where do we raise these concerns? And when do we raise these concerns? What is the concern? At times, I see these letters, and I wonder what the issue is. If you want to say that there is corruption, I want you to state that judicial officer X took money on this and this date. That’s the issue, and then why do we raise the issue? For the development of our country,” he said.
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