The Uganda Law Council has declined to grant former Kenyan justice minister Martha Karua a temporary practicing license to defend Dr Kizza Besigye and Obeid Lutale Kamulegeya in the General Court Martial based at Makindye in the capital Kampala.
The Law Council suggested that the application was rooted in political motivations as opposed to professional ones.
The rejection notice, which came through on December 06, now means that Martha Karua cannot officially lead Besigye’s defence team.
It also portends looming rejections for all other lawyers from across the continent that were planning to come to Uganda to boost Besigye’s legal team.
Responding to Margaret Nabakooza, the secretary of the Law Council of Uganda, Martha Karua said she was just doing it “for the record.”
Nabakooza had noted that Karua’s copies of practicing certificate, letter of good standing from the Law society of Kenya were not notarized, and that her nationality documents and academic qualifications were not attached to her application.
The Law Council secretary also had issues with lawyer Erias Lukwago’s practicing certificate yet he is a famous practicing advocate who even runs a law firm on top of his responsibilities as the mayor of the Ugandan capital Kampala.
Martha Karua wondered why Nabakooza and her Law Council rushed to decline her application instead of asking for the additional documents or seeking clarification from her on the same.
The Law Council of Uganda also suggested that Karua does not bring any special skill to the table which lawyers in the country cannot provide to Besigye and Lutale.
She has reminded Nabakooza and the Council that the accused have a constitutional right to appoint a lawyer or lawyers of their choice.
Nabakooza and her team also claimed that Martha Karua had also acted as a person holding a valid practicing certificate in Uganda as she attended the military court hearing of Dr Besigye’s case on December 02, 2024.
Karua said this was not true and that she was simply a visiting jurist whose issues Lukwago had presented to the military tribunal.
She accused Nabakooba of having started “an attack on my character and integrity,” and of acting in a way that “undermines the appearance of impartiality of the law council.”
“Your disparaging and personalized aspersions on my person and character, as well as the importation of extraneous matters is regrettable and undermines the spirit of Jumuiya,” she added.
Martha Karua had a tough first day in Uganda and that has continued with her failing to meet the chief justice — she was left with no option but to send a message to the chief justice through the media, as reported Here and There.
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