The ministry of justice and constitutional affairs is crafting a law to establish a fully-fledged institution to coordinate the provision of free legal aid services.
According to the Justice Centers Uganda – a government program through which free legal services are delivered – the ministry is waiting for the cabinet to approve a policy on legal aid before sending a draft law to parliament.
However, the policy, according the national coordinator of Justice Centers Uganda, Christine Nsubuga, has been before cabinet since 2012.
The piece of legislation, she said, will be presented to parliament after the policy and principles that would govern it have been passed.
"The cabinet has asked us to justify the need for this law and a national institution to handle legal aid. We have given them our justification but I think the media and the people yearning for justice need to play their part.”
Case backlog issue
The draft law, according to Nsubuga, seeks to set up an agency that will be well staffed and establish more centers across the country to provide free legal services to the people who cannot afford to pay for them.
The chief registrar of the courts of judicature, Paul Gadenya, said the legal aid project is one of the suitable measures of bringing down the case backlog, for the current justice system cannot effectively deal with the cases.
"Ninety-seven per cent (97%) of court users cannot afford services of lawyers. 10% of the cases are handled through alternative dispute resolution," he added.
He explained that 172,000 cases are pending in the justice system, and that 7, 894 cases are pending trial in the High Court. Read more
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