Africa-Press – Uganda. Retired Chief Justice Bart Katureebe has urged government to prioritise hiring local law firms for its representation in oil and gas disputes.
Justice Katureebe said Uganda has lawyers who have amassed a wealth of experience in the oil and gas sector.
“We have built capacity and we are in the process of building more. Government should make sure that more capacity is built so that in time, some of this work where we have contracted foreign firms can be contracted by our own,” he said.
Justice Katureebe was speaking at the 20th anniversary of Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA) at the weekend.
The former Chief Justice said some local lawyers have also been negotiating with big foreign law firms and there has been transfer of knowledge and know-how.
Justice Katureebe, who is one of the founding partners of KAA, said the amount one pays a foreign lawyer is between £400 (Shs1.8m) to £500 (Shs2.3m) in a day, which money he said should be going to local lawyers.
Speaking at ceremony, Dr Elly Karuhanga, another founding partner of KAA, faulted MPs and other stakeholders who have not ring-fenced legal services for locals in the oil and gas sector.
“Why are they not giving us the work, why are they not ring-fencing? I was asking the Uganda Law Society president, the Attorney General, and the minister for energy in charge of oil, gas and minerals to ring-fence legal and insurance services so that the money stays in Uganda and develops our professionals,” Dr Karuhanga said.
While assuming office from Mr William Byaruhanga in July, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka said one of his goals was to stop the government from hiring external legal support to the tune of billions of shillings.
Mr Kiryowa reasoned that since the Attorney General’s chambers is the largest law firm in the country, with 141 capable lawyers, there is no need of wasting taxpayers’ money.
“We must as professionals realise our full potential, we must dig deep and find that place for which we were trained. In the next five years, we must do everything humanly possible to remove or extremely reduce the external counsel work in these chambers,” Mr Kiryowa said then.
KAA at a glance
KAA was founded in 2001 through the merger of four major law firms. The founding partners were Justice Katureebe, Mr Sam Mayanja, now State minister for Lands, Oscar Kambona, and Mr Elly Karuhanga, a senior lawyer, who has served as a Member of Parliament, chairman of the Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, chairman of DFCU Limited and currently the chairman of the Private Sector Foundation and the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Seychelles to Uganda.
The founders were shortly joined by Peter Kabatsi, formerly Director of Public Prosecutions, and Joseph Matsiko, formerly director of civil litigation and now the Managing Partner at the firm.
In 2017, the firm admitted five new partners, including Zulaika Kasajja, Augustine Idoot, Elison Karuhanga, Jet Tumwebaze and Bruce Musinguzi. With 11 partners and a total staff of nearly 45 people, KAA has continued to grow in pursuit of the founders’ dream of making KAA the leading and largest law firm in Uganda, with legal specialisation and a wide international reach.
From its inception, the firm has provided legal services, and has handled some of the largest and most complex matters in commercial transactions, litigation, arbitration and taxation.
Some of its high profile clients include former Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura; businessman, Matthew Kanyamunyu; and property mogul, Sudhir Ruparelia.
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