*I am in Toronto but we still can exchange ideas. Mitayo Potosi*
On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 10:46 PM, Mitayo Potosi <[email protected]>wrote: > Dear Mr Sseppuuya,*Re: Lawyers, lawyers everywhere. It is the rule of law, > or is it?* > > *It is sad that East Africa, following the colonial masters, has all > those incompetent lawyers in charge of our destiny. > In our time there used to be streaming in schools. The best students, > generally went into Science subjects and the second rate into Arts. > > Look at the likes of Peter Kabatsi, Sam Kuteesa, Elly Karuhanga, VP > Ssekandi, Nuwa Amanya-Mushega, the late Omwony Ojok, Justice Ralph Ochan and > all of those lawyers. None of them studied Maths/Numeracy beyond Senior Two. > > > **Can you imagine it is these that negotiate contracts about the Oil > fields? Yes fellows who got zero in Maths in S.2 at Budo are now in > charge. > > Monsanto takes over the seed stock of East Africa after negotiating with > guys who went to law school because they had some good grade in Religious > studies or Shakespearean Literature or something of the sort. > > I once had a communication with the Dean of the Law Faculty at Makerere. He > wrote to me that Science or Maths have nothing to do with Law. That > Scientists here go to law school to avoid unemployment !!!* > * > In the West Law School is some kind of Graduate School (called > post-graduate in Uganda). > Here, after Engineering School many go to Law School. After an > undergraduate in Molecular and or Cell Biology one goes to Law school. It is > such calibre of scholars that eventually found pharmaceutical and chemical > industries, become the heads of Industry, or join** Government to write > the Law** to protect citizens**, or work on patents**. > > Some of our lawyers have never had a class in basic science. Senior two > Biology is just not good enough. > > The fraud here in the West is that the leaders in society are mostly clergy > and lawyers. > > In China before 1945 Chairman Mao was a librarian. But the others -- Prime > Minister Chu-en-Lai, General Lin Piao etc... were all engineers. Their > Cabinets are mostly scientists and engineers. How do the lawyers - Obama > and gang, compare with the Chinese in infrastructure building? Take the > three Gorges Dam, Super highways, Bullet trains etc..... > America's Amtrak is a sick joke. > > What are your views on this issue? > > My other beef is that Three-year degrees ought to be phased out in Uganda. > Let us have only four-year degrees. > > Mitayo Potosi. > ==================================* > *Re: Lawyers, lawyers everywhere. It is the rule of law, or is it?* > > > Posted Tuesday, July 26 2011 at 00:00 > > Share This Story > > Share<http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.monitor.co.ug%2FOpEd%2FCommentary%2F-%2F689364%2F1207614%2F-%2F12t908cz%2F-%2Findex.html&t=Daily%20Monitor%3A%20%C2%A0-%20Commentary%C2%A0%7CLawyers%2C%20lawyers%20everywhere.%20It%20is%20the%20rule%20of%20law%2C%20or%20is%20it%3F&src=sp> > > Full disclosure: For my undergraduate studies, I wanted to pursue law, > having determined as a child that I would be a lawyer. I discounted the > rather simplistic yet simple opinion that I had overheard my mother telling > her sister, when I was 8 or 9 years old, that “lawyers are the people who > say a thief did not steal”. When the time came I did apply, but Makerere Law > School did not take me as I did not score the requisite marks at A-Level. > > I was therefore left to admire from the sidelines as many schoolmates made > it into Law School. Many are now sound lawyers, magistrates and judges. It > was during university time also that the broader rule of law was restored > when the NRA swept to power, banishing state-inspired terror, > re-establishing courts of law, and the revamping of the Uganda Law Society. > The superstructure was rebuilt. But what is happening within the > superstructure? > > One of the small benefits of travelling is the opportunity to see how > things work elsewhere, or how they do not work in your country. A sojourn > across the Malaba border point will instantly reveal that Kenya actually > respects road reserves. They do not build in them the way Ugandans do. There > is a by-law of preserving road reserves, and one suspects that Kenya’s road > reserves by-law is the same as Uganda’s. This is only one of the many > contraventions of law/statute/guideline that Ugandans happily live with. A > few others: > > * Traffic laws: One-way streets, traffic lights, shoulders, speed limits, > overtaking, helmets, seatbelts, talking on phone, drink-driving, tinted > windows, motorcycle passenger limits > *Construction: Many by-laws governing building are ignored > * Copyright: TV stations and film halls translate wantonly; publications > and music stations pirate > *Registration of births/deaths: Births should be in 3 months, deaths in 1 > month > *Littering *Firearms *First-come, first-served (not law, but good > behaviour) > *Noise: Discos and churches > *Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: Overloading of cows on trucks, chicken > on bicycles and buses > *Registration of places of worship; marrying in a registered place > *Rabies Act: Police have power to seize, detain or destroy stray animals > *Smoking in public places > *Enguli Act: Nobody shall manufacture enguli without licence; no person > shall consume. > > It is not exactly the Wild West, but neither is it Shangri-La. Whichever > way we could really do better. After all, we have so many well qualified > lawyers. Many of the recent key appointments are legal minds: Edward Sekandi > in the Vice Presidency, Amama Mbabazi as Prime Minister, Rebecca Kadaga as > Speaker of Parliament, with another lawyer, Jacob Oulanyah as her deputy. > > The two big wigs at City Hall, Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and executive > director Jennifer Musisi are both lawyers, as is their newly-found nemesis, > intelligence supremo Gen. David Tinyefuza, who holds a Masters degree in > Human Rights. > > Makerere enrols 300 undergraduates into its Law School every year, while > Uganda Christian University passed out 213 law graduates last year and 229 > in 2009. It is raining lawyers. So why is it that with all these legal > minds, we are a society less inclined to obey and enforce what is lawful? > Perhaps the Musisi/Lukwago versus Tinyefuza standoff is instructive. > > The KCCA boss is holding onto the legal – the house under contest lawfully > belongs to the city authorities. There was never a proper (lawful) transfer > of the property to the security forces; the land title is at City Hall. On > the General’s side, there is a flouting of what is lawful. This small matter > is just one of many the new administration at City Hall is going to have to > deal with to establish true rule of law, because impunity in Uganda trickles > all the way down from the high and mighty to the supposedly upright me and > you. > > What is particularly alarming is the wanton disregard of the law by lawyers > themselves. Small time lawyers are also making hay. In the wake of > post-election petitions is a long trail of double-dealing by lawyers. By > law, any petition contesting election of an MP must be accompanied by an > affidavit, and affidavits are administered by lawyers. > > This is being abused. The Law Society is going to receive an entreaty > pointing out that certain lawyers have been swearing affidavits with one > witness, then turning around and administering an affidavit with the same > witness for the client’s opponent, nullifying the previous one. They are > telling lies; they are abusing affidavits – it is the moral equivalent of a > priest marrying a lady to one man, then turning around and marrying the same > woman to her former boyfriend. It is prostitution. > > We are admittedly a laissez faire society; we do not pay too much attention > to order. We like a bit of jungle law. It is kama mbaya mbaya (come what > may). There is a joy, even some fun, to it, but also a price to pay. It does > breed a wrong culture – impunity – and costs us future discipline. It is on > scrupulous obedience of the law that a society builds a civilisation. Let’s > produce more lawyers, but let us also apply and obey the law. > > [email protected] >
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