Lawyers seek to suspend Nyombi from Law Society

By Raymond Baguma

The Uganda Law Society (ULS) will this Thursday convene an extraordinary general meeting to discuss a petition seeking to suspend the Attorney General Peter Nyombi from the professional body.

Nicholas Opio the ULS secretary said in a notice that the meeting will be held at the Imperial Royale Hotel starting 2:30pm.

He said the meeting was requested by two petitions initiated by ULS members Jude Mbabaali and 15 others; as well Moses Adriko, Bruce Kyerere, Barnabas Tumusingize, Andrew Kasirye and 30 others as required by the law governing the lawyers’ body.

According to the agenda of the meeting, the lawyers will also elect a replacement of a ULS representative to the Law Council, and discuss the leadership vacuum and the Constitutional uncertainty in the appointment of the Chief Justice.

In the petition by Mbabali, the lawyers accuse Nyombi of exhibiting irresponsible behaviour in his actions as Attorney General, a result of which many Ugandans and in particular the legal fraternity have been subjected to embarrassment due to lack of regard for the constitution and laws of Uganda.

The petition dated 14th August, laid out four grounds for Nyombi’s suspension which include; misadvising or failure to advise the President that Odoki’s reappointment contravened Article 144 (1) (a) of the constitution which bars any person aged 70 years and above to be appointed or to act as Chief Justice.

The lawyers also said Nyombi misadvised the President on the appointment of Gen. Aronda Nyakairima to cabinet without resigning, against Article 208 (2) of the constitution which prohibits serving army officers from engaging in partisan politics.

They also blame him for poorly handling a Constitutional petition in which city lawyer Twinobusingye Severino was awarded sh11 billion in a case in which he sued the Government over the oil bribery case involving Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi. Nyombi did not appeal against the award of costs within the stipulated time.

The petitioners also fault Nyombi for partisanship to the NRM party, yet the constitution provides that the Attorney General shall be the principal legal advisor to government. They point to Nyombi’s legal opinion to Speaker Rebecca Kadaga in which he also directed her to retract her ruling in favour of retaining the expelled NRM MPs in Parliament.

“All the above cited incidents show lack of minimum expertise on the side of the Attorney General in legal and constitutional matters which any reigning Attorney General must possess to properly protect the interests of government and its institutions hence the reason why many Ugandans of repute have come up to publicly castigate the Attorney General in the media,” the petition reads.

The petitioners point out that in the past ULS has suspended government officials whose behaviour has embarrassed the legal profession or ill advised government to make decisions that violate human rights or result into wastage of taxpayer's money.

“To refresh your mind these include; the former Attorney General, Mr. Kiddu Makubuya, the Prime Minister, Hon. Amama Mbabazi, the former Director for Security Agencies, General David Sejusa, the Inspector General of Police, Kale Kayihura and the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Richard Butera. Some of the said suspensions were lifted after the officers reformed in their conduct and character,” the petition adds.