Amend laws to employ paralegals in the system
THE rising level of unemployment in Uganda has for long been attributed to, among other things, laziness and negative attitude towards work. However, I am disputing these factors labelled against the many unemployed.
Daniel Byaruhanga
THE rising level of unemployment in Uganda has for long been attributed to, among other things, laziness and negative attitude towards work. However, I am disputing these factors labelled against the many unemployed.
A paralegal is a person who has a diploma in Law from the Law Development centre (LDC), Kampala. For one to join LDC, they should have both O’level and A’Level certificates. This diploma is categorised in first class, second class and pass diploma.
What surprises me is that there is no law in Uganda, which encompasses this diploma such that it can be a way for one to acquire a job in any organisation or in government. It is unfortunate that the Government offers jobs, which should have absorbed the paralegals to either PLE or O’Level leavers. A good example is in the judiciary, administrator general, attorney general’s department where you find staff who are ignorant about the law.
In 2000, when the government employed paralegals as state prosecutors, most of them celebrated. They hoped they would be accommodated in many more government departments even to be incorporated in law firms to prosecute cases.
As the number increased, the government banned the recruitment. I once approached an official at the the DPP’s office. The official said they had advised their staff to go for up-grading or otherwise they risk losing their jobs. That meant as a job seeker, I had no place there. However, how do you urge one to up-grade when he has no funds? The Government and the Uganda law society (ULS) should know the relevance of the paralegals. For instance, they can defend accused persons in simple cases.
Save for assault, affray, battery, theft, threatening violence, applying and preparing applications for bail for accused persons, drafting plaints in civil matters and also defending civil matters within their jurisdictions as it is applied to Grade III, II, I and chief magistrates.
Since a paralegal has the same rank as a Grade III and II magistrates, educating the masses on rights and duties is vital. The failure to employ paralegals is a sabotage by, especially lawyers working for government departments. These lawyers fear their jobs may be taken by the paralegals. The argument that LDC is limited in its legal issues coverage is not correct. This because, when the Government introduces a course, it implies it had considered many factors related to the course. The legal process requires critical argument and reasoning.
Where there is a failure or miscourage of justice, the process of appeals arise.
You cannot compare paralegal profession to that of doctors, where medical assistants are left to treat patients. If a patient is carelessly handled, they cannot appeal, but die.
Teaching is even worse because there are teachers, who have certificates, diplomas and degrees. Yet all of them are known as teachers in spite of salary differences.
What is important is that the majority of them are employed. The way children are handled stage-by-stage until they reach university is similar to the way cases can be handled by different magistrates, judges and the justices of the supreme court.
I would advise the government to find a solution to the plight of the paralegals. This would serve a better purpose instead of purporting that the paralegals are that the paralegals are lazy. It is the government and the ULS discrediting and frustrating the usefulness of the paralegals in this country. The government should make laws that will incorporate the paralegals in legal chambers and several of government departments, where they can gainfully earn a living. They do well to work under instructions and supervision of lawyers as it is done in the department of the DPP.
The writer is a paralegal
with Kasozi, Omongole & Co Advocates
THE rising level of unemployment in Uganda has for long been attributed to, among other things, laziness and negative attitude towards work. However, I am disputing these factors labelled against the many unemployed.
A paralegal is a person who has a diploma in Law from the Law Development centre (LDC), Kampala. For one to join LDC, they should have both O’level and A’Level certificates. This diploma is categorised in first class, second class and pass diploma.
What surprises me is that there is no law in Uganda, which encompasses this diploma such that it can be a way for one to acquire a job in any organisation or in government. It is unfortunate that the Government offers jobs, which should have absorbed the paralegals to either PLE or O’Level leavers. A good example is in the judiciary, administrator general, attorney general’s department where you find staff who are ignorant about the law.
In 2000, when the government employed paralegals as state prosecutors, most of them celebrated. They hoped they would be accommodated in many more government departments even to be incorporated in law firms to prosecute cases.
As the number increased, the government banned the recruitment. I once approached an official at the the DPP’s office. The official said they had advised their staff to go for up-grading or otherwise they risk losing their jobs. That meant as a job seeker, I had no place there. However, how do you urge one to up-grade when he has no funds? The Government and the Uganda law society (ULS) should know the relevance of the paralegals. For instance, they can defend accused persons in simple cases.
Save for assault, affray, battery, theft, threatening violence, applying and preparing applications for bail for accused persons, drafting plaints in civil matters and also defending civil matters within their jurisdictions as it is applied to Grade III, II, I and chief magistrates.
Since a paralegal has the same rank as a Grade III and II magistrates, educating the masses on rights and duties is vital. The failure to employ paralegals is a sabotage by, especially lawyers working for government departments. These lawyers fear their jobs may be taken by the paralegals. The argument that LDC is limited in its legal issues coverage is not correct. This because, when the Government introduces a course, it implies it had considered many factors related to the course. The legal process requires critical argument and reasoning.
Where there is a failure or miscourage of justice, the process of appeals arise.
You cannot compare paralegal profession to that of doctors, where medical assistants are left to treat patients. If a patient is carelessly handled, they cannot appeal, but die.
Teaching is even worse because there are teachers, who have certificates, diplomas and degrees. Yet all of them are known as teachers in spite of salary differences.
What is important is that the majority of them are employed. The way children are handled stage-by-stage until they reach university is similar to the way cases can be handled by different magistrates, judges and the justices of the supreme court.
I would advise the government to find a solution to the plight of the paralegals. This would serve a better purpose instead of purporting that the paralegals are that the paralegals are lazy. It is the government and the ULS discrediting and frustrating the usefulness of the paralegals in this country. The government should make laws that will incorporate the paralegals in legal chambers and several of government departments, where they can gainfully earn a living. They do well to work under instructions and supervision of lawyers as it is done in the department of the DPP.
The writer is a paralegal
with Kasozi, Omongole & Co Advocates