Going to court ought to be a last option
Aug 02, 2009
Letter of the day<br><br>EDITOR—Most people in Uganda are poor. For this reason, pursuing justice is almost impossible. With the problems they already have, justice cannot be a priority. Once they are advised that their case must go to court or requir
Letter of the day
EDITOR—Most people in Uganda are poor. For this reason, pursuing justice is almost impossible. With the problems they already have, justice cannot be a priority. Once they are advised that their case must go to court or requires a lawyer’s intervention, they drop the matter right away.
On the other hand, the rich are able to pursue a case even when it is not necessary to go to court, especially where they know they have an upper hand. They will also take advantage of the poor party’s ignorance to threaten or confuse them.
The poor man’s decision is derived from the costs involved. These may be material or even psychological. In the first place, one first establishes the social standing of the respondent. The complainant does this for fear that litigation could could cost him or her life.
Lately, many people have started pretending to be very powerful in order to intimidate poor people and prevent them from taking them to court. The next cost is transport.
Depending on where one lives, transport may comprise a very substantial part of the costs. Transport costs will arise either for the journey to court or to the lawyer’s premises. The transport network in Uganda is not very good and many districts upcountry do not have a single lawyer or court within their locality.
Take an example of Mukono, which is not a remote district in comparison to those in the countryside. A claimant from Nkokonjeru or Busabaga will pay over sh6,000 on a boda-boda or over sh3,000 to get to Mukono court. One can therefore only imagine what happens in other areas. Whether at court or at an advocate’s chambers, the claimant or complainant will have to pay several costs depending on the nature of the case.
These range from instruction fees, filing fees, commissioning fees, drafting fees, and even meeting the advocate’s costs like transport to court which will depend on the type of car he owns. For attending court he is entitled to sh50,000.
The client has to meet these costs regardless of the extent of success of his claim. However, there is good news for a client who cannot afford meeting the costs of a private lawyer. the other option is to seek the help of the Legal Aid Project. This project is a brain child of the Uganda Law Society. It was established to enable the needy and poor acquire justice.
The Legal Aid Project tries very hard to do its best but also has challenges and cannot not meet all the costs of the complainant. For example, while it pays filing fees for the client and also freely drafts the necessary court papers, it will not meet costs like transport, or pay fees to get reports to be used as evidence in court. Even when the matter is in court, given the existing backlog, judgment is not received within a short time.
This explains why many people are on remand for a period which is sometimes much longer than the resultant sentence. There are cases which have been in court since the 1990s and some of the complainants have died without receiving judgment. depending on the nature of the case, on receipt of judgment, several costs are incurred in the execution of such orders—for instance the bailiff’s fees.
Most of the fees asked for by the advocate are authorised by legislation and there is case law to back them up. for example, in the recent case of Kibeedi against AYA court ruled that the advocate was entitled to the fees he demanded.
It is for such reasons that the judiciary and other stakeholders are encouraged to always try out alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as arbitration, mediation and reconciliation. That way, the costs of both the advocate and the client will be reduced.
Damalie Tibugwisa
Uganda Law Society
Legal Aid Project
EDITOR—Most people in Uganda are poor. For this reason, pursuing justice is almost impossible. With the problems they already have, justice cannot be a priority. Once they are advised that their case must go to court or requires a lawyer’s intervention, they drop the matter right away.
On the other hand, the rich are able to pursue a case even when it is not necessary to go to court, especially where they know they have an upper hand. They will also take advantage of the poor party’s ignorance to threaten or confuse them.
The poor man’s decision is derived from the costs involved. These may be material or even psychological. In the first place, one first establishes the social standing of the respondent. The complainant does this for fear that litigation could could cost him or her life.
Lately, many people have started pretending to be very powerful in order to intimidate poor people and prevent them from taking them to court. The next cost is transport.
Depending on where one lives, transport may comprise a very substantial part of the costs. Transport costs will arise either for the journey to court or to the lawyer’s premises. The transport network in Uganda is not very good and many districts upcountry do not have a single lawyer or court within their locality.
Take an example of Mukono, which is not a remote district in comparison to those in the countryside. A claimant from Nkokonjeru or Busabaga will pay over sh6,000 on a boda-boda or over sh3,000 to get to Mukono court. One can therefore only imagine what happens in other areas. Whether at court or at an advocate’s chambers, the claimant or complainant will have to pay several costs depending on the nature of the case.
These range from instruction fees, filing fees, commissioning fees, drafting fees, and even meeting the advocate’s costs like transport to court which will depend on the type of car he owns. For attending court he is entitled to sh50,000.
The client has to meet these costs regardless of the extent of success of his claim. However, there is good news for a client who cannot afford meeting the costs of a private lawyer. the other option is to seek the help of the Legal Aid Project. This project is a brain child of the Uganda Law Society. It was established to enable the needy and poor acquire justice.
The Legal Aid Project tries very hard to do its best but also has challenges and cannot not meet all the costs of the complainant. For example, while it pays filing fees for the client and also freely drafts the necessary court papers, it will not meet costs like transport, or pay fees to get reports to be used as evidence in court. Even when the matter is in court, given the existing backlog, judgment is not received within a short time.
This explains why many people are on remand for a period which is sometimes much longer than the resultant sentence. There are cases which have been in court since the 1990s and some of the complainants have died without receiving judgment. depending on the nature of the case, on receipt of judgment, several costs are incurred in the execution of such orders—for instance the bailiff’s fees.
Most of the fees asked for by the advocate are authorised by legislation and there is case law to back them up. for example, in the recent case of Kibeedi against AYA court ruled that the advocate was entitled to the fees he demanded.
It is for such reasons that the judiciary and other stakeholders are encouraged to always try out alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as arbitration, mediation and reconciliation. That way, the costs of both the advocate and the client will be reduced.
Damalie Tibugwisa
Uganda Law Society
Legal Aid Project