Parliament creates office of Counsel General

The Parliamentary Commission has elevated the office of the Director of Legal Services to the level of Deputy Clerk and named it Counsel General.
The Counsel General will have two deputies at the level of directors who will run the parliamentary procedural services and litigations.
Sources at Parliament say the creation of the new office is intended to replace the legal services offered to the legislature by the office of the Attorney General.
However, the Acting Director of Communications and Public Relations at Parliament, Ms Helen Kawesa, dismissed the reports.
“It was about reorganising the Parliament structure, and it had nothing do with replacing the Attorney General. Our relationship with the Attorney remains and even now, we are engaging them on a number of issues,”
The Attorney General, who is the Chief Legal Adviser to government under which Parliament falls as its legislative arm, can only be replaced through a constitutional amendment.
The Parliamentary Commission, according to sources, had for long been unhappy and feels betrayed by the office of the Attorney General on legal opinions.
“He is supposed to advise us but he decided to ill-advise us. You are supposed to work for us and you work against us? How do we continue to work with you as an institution?” a senior source in Parliament said. “At some stage, we shall take a position that we can no longer allow the AG to represent us anywhere.”
The process to create the position of Counsel General was concluded in 2019 when Mr Pius Biribonwoha, the Director of Legal Services, was promoted to Deputy Clerk.
But the sources say the repeat clashes between the Executive and Parliament have amplified the push by the Legislature to have its own chief legal adviser.
On April 23, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga castigated Attorney General (AG) William Byaruhanga, accusing him of supporting the Judiciary “in scandalising the legislature” over the appropriation of Shs10b Covid-19 cash.
The High Court had two days earlier issued an interim order stopping the payment of the money to MPs following a petition by Ntungamo Municipality MP Gerald Karuhanga and Erute South MP Jonathan Odur who challenged the legality of the payment.
In 2017, Ms Kadaga described a court order stopping Parliament from setting up an inquiry into Shs6b that had been paid to government officials when Uganda won a case against Heritage Oil Limited in London arbitration and was awarded $434m (about Shs1.5 trillion).
The Deputy Attorney General, Mr Jackson Kafuuzi, said Parliament cannot do away with the Office of the Attorney General.
“Whether they are uncomfortable or not, it’s the Attorney General to represent them and Parliament is an arm of government,” he said.
He said both institutions should work together to end the suspicion between the two institutions.
“Parliament is mandated to work with the Attorney General and we shall do our best to improve our working relationship,” he said.