Lawyers under the Uganda Law Society (ULS) have petitioned the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga to reign on parliament’s committee on Commissions, State Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) after the committee invited some lawyers to give evidence on the alleged repossession and disposal of expropriated properties.
ULS President, Simon Peter M. Kinobe says that the request for advocates to appear before COSASE puts members in conflict with the laws and regulations governing professional conduct of Advocates, particularly Evidence Act and the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations.
Kinobe adds: “The Supreme Court of Uganda in the case of Uganda Development Bank versus Kasirye Byaruhanga…confirmed that Advocates cannot or be forced to divulge or disclose client information in the course of acting as an Advocate.”
He says that some of his members have informed him that some of the properties under inquiry are ongoing court matters and therefore subject of the Subjudice Rule. Worse still he argues that COSASE has not given specific properties and names of clients for which the request is made.
Kinobe contends that given the circumstance above the request for lawyers to appear before COSASE is irregular and wants Kadaga to advise to committee.
COSASE has been investigating mess in Departed Asians Properties Custodian Board (DAPCB).
There are also claims that Indians claiming properties under DAPCB could have been compensated by Uganda since it the Indian government the money for compensation.
In June 1997, the then Minister of Justice/Attorney General Bart M. Katureebe wrote to the then Minister of State for Finance the late Basoga Nsadhu explaining that the government of Uganda under the international law sent money to the Indian government to compensate Indians who lost their properties after being expelled by president Idi Amin.
“The Indian government had a duty to pass on the compensation to its nationals since it not only negotiated on their behalf but received on their behalf,” Katureebe at the time explained to Nsadhu who had sought legal opinion on Indian properties under DAPCB.
