The claim of 20% legal fees by city lawyer John Matovu from former Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (UPTC), Uganda Communications Commission and Post Bank Limited staff has caused contention.
The contention arose from questions of fairness, agreed-upon terms, and the legal basis for the fee structure where Mr. John Matovu, a lawyer representing over 1600 former employees of the above companies demanded 20% onto his personal account to cater for his “legal fees” and “administrative costs incurred during the procurement of the benefits.
The ‘smart lawyer’ wants Shs30 billion out of the released Shs64 billion meant for part settlement of the pensioners.
Matuvo wants the money to be deducted before the government through the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance disburses the 80% to the individual accounts of the beneficiaries.
According to documents seen by Eagle Online from Court of Appeal, Justice Muzamiru Mutanga Kibeedi, noted that Matovu and the claimants have been struggling with the case for over twenty years since 2003 and that any postponement of the fruits of a 20 years’ struggle would be anywhere near fair and he granted the application in the terms sought by the applicant. However, it has been established this ruling was ex-party.
“I have taken into account the fact that the dispute which is the subject of the matter revolves around mode of payment. Ordinarily once counsel is instructed by the client, then he is the one legally mandated to represent the clients at all phases including at the payment stage. Further, that once payment is made to one’s advocates, it is in law as good as payment to the client himself with the consequence that the debtor becomes discharged upon effecting the payment to the advocate,” he noted. Nevertheless, majority of the claimants have rejected this allegation stating that Matovu didn’t consult them as he forged the consent of a few who signed the Ministry of ICT letter headed papers.
Matovu also wrote to the Attorney General alerting that the issue of fees legal payment was first brought to the attention of the Court of Appeal in 2018, 2020 and was determined and disposed off on December 22, 2021 in a ruling by Justice Stephne Musoota of the Court of Appeal in which he ordered that the lawyers’ fees payable in HCCS No.135 of 2003 was 5.6 billion representing 2.4% of the then decretal sums in percentage terms.
However, in a consent order between Uganda Posts Limited and Benard Mweteise plus Attorney General did not indicate payment of the 20% to Matovu but to engage government through its stakeholders to take up and settle the entire claim and the costs arising.
Government owed pensioners Shs320 billion and has been paying in phases. However, with the release of Shs64 billion in this quarter, Matovu is demanding for Shs30 billion as legal which has left the pensioners disenfranchised and objecting the figures. Government has so far in total released Shs176 billion out of the Shs320 billion. Figures from Ministry of Finance indicate that 55% of the pension has been settled.
In a letter dated December 8, the Ministry of ICT sought guidance from the Attorney General whether lawyers, Matovu and Matovu Advocates should be paid the 20% of the award of the pensioner.
The Ministry had also been advised that the government should not get involved in enforcing any agreements that may have been executed between the lawyers representing the beneficiaries and the pensioners.
The lawyer did not appeal Justice Musota’s ruling to prove his dissatisfaction instead he later in June 2022 went back to the same court and filed a new application which has come with a different ruling. This is tantamount to asking the court that the law firm be paid twice for the same services. In view of the state, we request for your guidance on the interpretation of the two rulings” read part of the letter.
Matovu claimed that his application is supported by the Affidavits of Rosemary Birungi and Justus Ampaire which the Ministry of ICT averted that the two pensioners have no mandate to represent the pensioners on this matter and therefore, their affidavits are not binding to other pensioners.
Matovu further claimed that several pensioners signed individual forms on the headed paper of the Ministry of ICT by which the signatories consented to the 20% deduction from their lump sum pension.
“The question is ‘since when did a government working in the capacity of payment for pensioners become a debt collection agent of a private law firm to use their headed paper?’ We aver that we find this arrangement very odd and not binding,” The Ministry inquired.
The Ministry further inquired that in a view of the more than 20 years pensioners waiting period to be paid taking into account the ailing and aging situation of the pensioners, any pre-condition by the ‘Paymaster’ to sign the consent form before payment is tantamount to signing under duress.
On contrary, other pensioners wrote on September 19, 2022 to the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of ICT and copied to the Speaker of Parliament, Attorney General, Prime Minister and Finance Ministry desisting with reasons the 20% deduction from pensioners’ dues.
In response, the Deputy Auditor General, Jackson Kafuuzi said that the office of Attorney General is bound by court decisions regardless of whether they like them or not. However, he clarified that beneficiaries in such cases should be paid directly and so that they settle their indebtedness to whoever they owe personally.
Kafuuzi guided that if any of Matovu and Matovu Advocates’ clients are dissatisfied and disapprove of the decreed 20% deductions should seek to have the Court Order set aside in any way varied to their advantage.
The same law firm and its lead partners were cited in another case and this time, the Anti-Corruption Unit together with the Criminal Investigation Department and Office of Director of Public Prosecution yesterday arraigned Mr. Matovu, before the Anti-Corruption Court on charges of theft by an agent and conspiracy to defraud government of over Shs4 billion.
The accused, while entrusted as one of the advocates for Busoga Growers Cooperative Union to pursue war loss compensation claims from the government, conspired and stole the funds.
