ULS boss sued over MoU with Buganda Kingdom

The president of the Uganda Law Society (ULS), Ms Pheona Nabasa Wall, has been dragged to court for alleged refusal to release information regarding agreements signed between the lawyers and the Buganda Kingdom in May.

Ms Wall was sued by one of her members, Steven Kalali, on July 2 before Nakawa Court.

Court documents show that between May 3 and May 9, Ms Wall as a representative of the lawyers, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Buganda Kingdom.

“As a fully paid up member of the society who is well conversant with the society objectives, I was never accorded ample time/ chance to take part in the assenting and analysing of the said MoU, which binds the second (Law Society) and me as its member,” Mr Kalali states in his law suit.

“The MoU was entered into without knowledge or general meeting of members of the society which undermines democratic principles of good governance/rule of law hence the need to have access to the information and ascertain whether they are [in] tandem with the objectives of the society…” he further states.

Mr Kalali adds that he wrote to Ms Wall on May 27, requesting to be availed with MoU documents but in vain and that no reason has been advanced for the refusal.

“The right to access information is critical tool to democratic participation oversight and only through it shall members investigate whether public duties are being performed properly,” he states.

Core to the terms of the MoU signed in May, the Mengo establishment agreed to provide free office space to the lawyers in three of its counties from where they are to operate from.

Busiro, Mawokota, and Buddu are the first three counties that the kingdom has provided space to kick-start the partnership.
Speaking at the signing of the MoU, the kingdom prime minister, Mr Charles Peter Mayiga, said the partnership is timely to help out those who are normally duped because they do not understand the basics of the law in business transactions.

“The Buganda Royal Law Chambers, will get a deep reach of the communities where the most vulnerable are predominate with this partnership. The children, women who are sexually abused by their uncles and their employers respectively, in exchange of jobs for the women, will too be helped out under this partnership,” Mr Mayiga said in May.

“There are also those who don’t know how to read and write and they are taken advantage of and duped into signing fake agreements. But with this partnership, this group will also be helped,” he added.

Speaking at the same signing in ceremony, Ms Wall explained that the reason they are partnering with the Mengo establishment was to reach out to the people at the grassroots in a bid to resolve legal disputes.

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