After relatively successful pilot schemes of provision of Pro bono services, the Uganda Law Society together with the Law Council has now moved to roll out a national pro bono scheme that will involve all
advocates as part of their mandate to promote access to justice.

Bruce Kyerere

The President of the Uganda Law Society Bruce Kyerere says the that pilot schemes that were carried out in Entebbe freely handled over 300 cases and were managed by the Associations of Human Rights Organizations, the Uganda Law Society with financial support of about 13 million shillings from the Legal Aid Basket Fund. He says they carried out the schemes by enrolling a few willing advocates to provide these legal services.

Kyerere told journalists in Kampala that the pro bono scheme will aim at popularizing the provision of free legal services amongst lawyers since though it is a legal requirement for all lawyers to provide pro bono services, the idea has not been widely accepted and embraced in Uganda’s legal fraternity.

Kyerere says currently Pro bono services are being provided in an uncoordinated manner with no clear mechanisms for monitoring the nature of cases handled and how they are handled by the lawyers.

He says however with the national pro bono scheme in place, the provision of free legal  services will then be better coordinated and of better quality than before.

Kyerere says the law fraternity wants to do this as a way of giving back to the society and as a social responsibility since lawyers are called to serve society by helping especially the less fortunate access justice.

Though the constitution of Uganda says that every Ugandan is entitled to equal protection of the law and has a right to legal representation, this is not the case as the majority of Ugandans cannot afford the expensive services of the lawyers and yet people seriously need legal services for example to be able to present a case in courts of judicature.

By Tiberindwa Zakaria, Ultimate Media