Karua denied Ugandan practising certificate to defend Besigye

Martha Karua, the lead counsel in Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye’s case following his abduction in Kenya, said on Monday her application for a temporary law practice certificate in the neighbouring country was turned down.

Karua said the Ugandan Law Council declined her application in a letter dated December 6 because copies of her practising certificate and letter of good standing from the Law Society of Kenya were not notarized.

Responding to the Ugandan Law Council in a letter she also shared on her social media accounts, Karua said the council told her that her nationality documents and academic qualifications were not attached to her application, as well as that of Erias Lukwago, another lawyer for Besigye who is also the mayor of Uganda’s capital city Kampala.

“Rather than use these as reasons to decline my application, one would expect that the law council would have asked for whatever additional documents that it desired,” Karua, who holds the senior counsel title, wrote.

“Mr Lukwago is not only a well-known personality as the Lord Mayor of the City of Kampala but also as a practising advocate running a law firm.”

Karua said the Ugandan Law Council also questioned whether she brings “any special skill,” to which the former Kenyan justice minister responded: “With the greatest respect to your good selves, it is Dr Besigye's constitutional right to appoint a lawyer/s of choice including a lead counsel of choice.”

The council, Karua added, further accused her of presenting as a person holding a valid practising certificate in Uganda when she attended the December 2 court martial hearing of Besigye's case.

But she dismissed as untrue the account, saying Lukwago introduced her to the Ugandan court and said she awaited approval of her special license to practice law in Uganda.

“It was on this basis that an adjournment was granted to the 10th of December. In the light of these facts, I take great exception to this unmerited accusation by yourselves which constitutes an attack on my character and integrity, and undermines the appearance of impartiality of the law council,” Karua said.

“Your disparaging and personalized aspersions on my person and character, as well as the importation of extraneous matters, is regrettable and undermines the spirit of Jumuiya,” added Karua, a reference to the East African Community.

Karua is leading a 50-member bench comprising representatives from well-known legal associations like the Pan-African Lawyers Union and the International Commission of Jurists in defending Besigye and his co-accused, Hajj Obeid Lutale.

Besigye and Lutale were picked up in Nairobi by Ugandan agents on November 16, where Besigye had been invited to speak at the launch of Karua's memoir, 'Against the Tide'.

They were driven to Uganda and locked up in a military jail.

The duo, which has been in custody since November 20, is accused of illegal firearm possession and security-related offences, which critics of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s government deem politically motivated.

In the December 2 court martial hearing, Besigye and Lutale were charged with alleged illegal possession of two pistols and eight rounds of ammunition. 

The trial was adjourned to December 10 to allow time for Karua to obtain a temporary practising license.