Choudry Uganda’s first turbaned judge
ANUP Singh Choudry was one of the 13 judges sworn in on May 2. He became Uganda’s first turbaned High Court judge. His Seikh religion requires him to wear long unshorn hair, covered by the turban. Therefore, he will be exempt from wearing the traditional judicial wig. <b>Anne Mugisa</b> interviewe
ANUP Singh Choudry was one of the 13 judges sworn in on May 2. He became Uganda’s first turbaned High Court judge. His Seikh religion requires him to wear long unshorn hair, covered by the turban. Therefore, he will be exempt from wearing the traditional judicial wig. Anne Mugisa interviewed him and for the excerpts click here for
QUESTION: Your Lordship, could you give us a brief history of yourself?
ANSWER: I am a Ugandan by birth, born in Masaka. I was naturalised British in 1982. However, I want to regain my Ugandan citizenship since the Constitution allows dual citizenship. I started school at Kabarole Public School in Fort Portal, now called Buhinga Primary School. Later, I went to Shimoni Primary School before moving to St. Joseph’s School, Nyamitanga in Mbarara. I was supposed to join Ntare School, but my father, who was a civil servant, was transferred to the North and I instead went to Layibi College in Gulu.
When did you go to Britain?
I went to Britain in 1969 to study.
What did you study?
I did my first degree in physiology at the University of London and later did law at Cambridge University.
How long did you practice in the field of your first qualification?
I did not practice in my first field of qualification. However, I practiced law. I was in private legal practice for 20 years until 2000. And then I worked as a quality controller. I am an auditor in quality control-ISO 9002.
Why did you accept to come here?
I wanted to come to Uganda for a long time. Then somebody suggested I could work in the Judiciary. I sent my application to the Judicial Service Commission in 2004 and did interviews that year, but I was told there were no vacancies yet.
Cases take long to be concluded, which frustrates those seeking justice. What should the public expect from you?
First the problem is inexperience in the use of modern technology. As you heard the President say, judges cannot laboriously take down notes as they hear a case. Something needs to be done.
Second, I am here to do a job and it will be done. If a case takes over 12 months, it is unacceptable. There should not be unnecessary adjournments and I will not allow it in my court.
How about if the adjournments are caused by the litigants themselves?
That is no excuse. We can deal with that by setting objectives and being disciplined. We will have a new style of dealing with the cases swiftly and efficiently. I will be in the Commercial Court and dealing with the cases swiftly there is important.
A strong judiciary encourages investments. Foreign investors would want to come if they are assured of legal redress in case anything went wrong.
<>How about if the lawyers are the ones asking for adjournments?
Judges are not there for the convenience of lawyers. They are not there for the convenience of the parties in the case or the convenience of the witnesses.
Indolence has no place in Court. If the lawyers start unnecessary delays, I will give the judgment according to the evidence I have. The clients can sue their lawyers for negligence.
You mean clients have the option of suing their lawyers when they lose cases out of negligence?
Oh yes they can. In Britain, Europe and the US, that happens. The only problem here is that lawyers are not insured and that is reckless disregard of the clients interests.
But the most important thing here is protection of the clients’ interests.
Lawyers can be negligent if they do not act according to the client’s instructions. So if that happens, where does the client get redress if the law firm is not insured? It should be a condition before someone is given a practicing license.
The Uganda Law Society shouldn’t issue practicing certificates unless the firms are insured, so that if clients lose their money they can he compensated through insurance.
Another thing is when clients pay, lawyers should keep the money in the clients’ account not in the office account. The client’s account would be audited yearly. The audit report and the insurance should be a basis for licensing a lawyer to practice.
When does the lawyer get his money from the client?
After delivering the bill and the fees are agreed on, the law firm can then get its money from the clients’ account.
You say there is no corruption in the judiciary, but people outside feel frustrated and as far as they are concerned, the system has denied them justice.
The Judiciary and the legal profession are different. It is true that many times the public can suffer at the hands of the lawyers but when they (public) see the courts functioning effectively, they will have confidence in the judiciary.
My job, as a judge, is to protect the public from exploitation and ensure integrity and confidence in the judiciary. Rulings do not have to delay. You cannot have a judgment taking six months to deliver. That judgment is unsafe because a judge cannot remember everything that the witnesses said for him to make a ruling. It can be a ground for appeal and the ruling can be set aside in favour of the appellant.
What do you take to be the biggest challenge in the judiciary?
Quality control systems must be brought in and the judges must be monitored through set procedures. My feeling is judges here are quite fair.
Are there things that the Ugandan justice system could copy from the system in the UK?
The systems are the same in all Commonwealth countries. We use precedents. However, we could do with technology. Judges cannot keep writing everything as they conduct cases.
The lawyers can also learn from their British counterparts and adopt a corporate culture. Lawyers here do not have a corporate culture. Here people do not trust each other and each one wants to set up their own small firms yet they need expertise of other lawyers with different specialisation.
In England, you can find 300 lawyers as partners in one firm each bringing in expertise in different fields.
I want to write a book on how to set up legal practice or a law firm. This will help the lawyers know what to do. The public should also be helped to know what their rights and obligations are.
Tell us about your family life.
I am married with three children. My son is at the University of London and the two younger children are still in school in North Hampstead. I came alone because I did not want to uproot the family; they will be visiting during holiday and besides I thought I was going back before returning to work.
During the swearing-in, I saw you raise something that was neither the Bible nor the Koran. What was It?
Those were Seikh scriptures from the Seikh holy book, the Granthsahiu. The blue cloth was only a covering out of respect for the scriptures.
QUESTION: Your Lordship, could you give us a brief history of yourself?
ANSWER: I am a Ugandan by birth, born in Masaka. I was naturalised British in 1982. However, I want to regain my Ugandan citizenship since the Constitution allows dual citizenship. I started school at Kabarole Public School in Fort Portal, now called Buhinga Primary School. Later, I went to Shimoni Primary School before moving to St. Joseph’s School, Nyamitanga in Mbarara. I was supposed to join Ntare School, but my father, who was a civil servant, was transferred to the North and I instead went to Layibi College in Gulu.
When did you go to Britain?
I went to Britain in 1969 to study.
What did you study?
I did my first degree in physiology at the University of London and later did law at Cambridge University.
How long did you practice in the field of your first qualification?
I did not practice in my first field of qualification. However, I practiced law. I was in private legal practice for 20 years until 2000. And then I worked as a quality controller. I am an auditor in quality control-ISO 9002.
Why did you accept to come here?
I wanted to come to Uganda for a long time. Then somebody suggested I could work in the Judiciary. I sent my application to the Judicial Service Commission in 2004 and did interviews that year, but I was told there were no vacancies yet.
Cases take long to be concluded, which frustrates those seeking justice. What should the public expect from you?
First the problem is inexperience in the use of modern technology. As you heard the President say, judges cannot laboriously take down notes as they hear a case. Something needs to be done.
Second, I am here to do a job and it will be done. If a case takes over 12 months, it is unacceptable. There should not be unnecessary adjournments and I will not allow it in my court.
How about if the adjournments are caused by the litigants themselves?
That is no excuse. We can deal with that by setting objectives and being disciplined. We will have a new style of dealing with the cases swiftly and efficiently. I will be in the Commercial Court and dealing with the cases swiftly there is important.
A strong judiciary encourages investments. Foreign investors would want to come if they are assured of legal redress in case anything went wrong.
<>How about if the lawyers are the ones asking for adjournments?
Judges are not there for the convenience of lawyers. They are not there for the convenience of the parties in the case or the convenience of the witnesses.
Indolence has no place in Court. If the lawyers start unnecessary delays, I will give the judgment according to the evidence I have. The clients can sue their lawyers for negligence.
You mean clients have the option of suing their lawyers when they lose cases out of negligence?
Oh yes they can. In Britain, Europe and the US, that happens. The only problem here is that lawyers are not insured and that is reckless disregard of the clients interests.
But the most important thing here is protection of the clients’ interests.
Lawyers can be negligent if they do not act according to the client’s instructions. So if that happens, where does the client get redress if the law firm is not insured? It should be a condition before someone is given a practicing license.
The Uganda Law Society shouldn’t issue practicing certificates unless the firms are insured, so that if clients lose their money they can he compensated through insurance.
Another thing is when clients pay, lawyers should keep the money in the clients’ account not in the office account. The client’s account would be audited yearly. The audit report and the insurance should be a basis for licensing a lawyer to practice.
When does the lawyer get his money from the client?
After delivering the bill and the fees are agreed on, the law firm can then get its money from the clients’ account.
You say there is no corruption in the judiciary, but people outside feel frustrated and as far as they are concerned, the system has denied them justice.
The Judiciary and the legal profession are different. It is true that many times the public can suffer at the hands of the lawyers but when they (public) see the courts functioning effectively, they will have confidence in the judiciary.
My job, as a judge, is to protect the public from exploitation and ensure integrity and confidence in the judiciary. Rulings do not have to delay. You cannot have a judgment taking six months to deliver. That judgment is unsafe because a judge cannot remember everything that the witnesses said for him to make a ruling. It can be a ground for appeal and the ruling can be set aside in favour of the appellant.
What do you take to be the biggest challenge in the judiciary?
Quality control systems must be brought in and the judges must be monitored through set procedures. My feeling is judges here are quite fair.
Are there things that the Ugandan justice system could copy from the system in the UK?
The systems are the same in all Commonwealth countries. We use precedents. However, we could do with technology. Judges cannot keep writing everything as they conduct cases.
The lawyers can also learn from their British counterparts and adopt a corporate culture. Lawyers here do not have a corporate culture. Here people do not trust each other and each one wants to set up their own small firms yet they need expertise of other lawyers with different specialisation.
In England, you can find 300 lawyers as partners in one firm each bringing in expertise in different fields.
I want to write a book on how to set up legal practice or a law firm. This will help the lawyers know what to do. The public should also be helped to know what their rights and obligations are.
Tell us about your family life.
I am married with three children. My son is at the University of London and the two younger children are still in school in North Hampstead. I came alone because I did not want to uproot the family; they will be visiting during holiday and besides I thought I was going back before returning to work.
During the swearing-in, I saw you raise something that was neither the Bible nor the Koran. What was It?
Those were Seikh scriptures from the Seikh holy book, the Granthsahiu. The blue cloth was only a covering out of respect for the scriptures.