Draft 10/3/2010

Legal Integrity Education Network





LIEN Uganda Mission

Pilot Project with UCU Faculty of Law

Kampala February 14th – 21st 2010





MISSION REPORT


By

Rafolisy Patrick, Head of Integrity Africa, Tiri

Petter Langseth, LIEN consultant

Kennedy Otieno, Coordinator PPI East Africa, Tiri





/

5th March, 2010






TABLE OF CONTENTS


A. INTRODUCTION

According to the TOR attached to the present report, the mission’s main objective was to introduce the LIEN approach to the legal community in Uganda and focus on a coalition building and strategic preparation of the pilot initiative with the UCU Faculty of Law and other key local stakeholders (Judiciary, Uganda Law Society,)

The expected main outputs of the mission included:

1. A list of personalities committed to meet the visiting team, agenda and schedule of arranged meetings

2. A strategy document specifying among others the: (i) concept, (ii) orientation, (iii) approaches, (iv) resources priorities and (v) measurement of the LIEN Project with the UCU

3. Grant agreement to UCU signed

4. MOU with relevant partners signed

5. Letter of commitment signed by the hon. Chief Justice Ben Odoke

6. A Mission Completion Report including: (i) main events, (ii) agreed LIEN Uganda strategy, (iii) eventually agreement documents and (iv) agreed action plan involving all key stakeholders.

The present report summarizes the activities of the mission and presents the achievements in regards to the expected outputs and objectives of the LIEN Uganda project.
B. COALITION BUILDING


It was agreed between the mission members that if the main beneficiaries of the pilot exercise were the future law graduates, it would be more responsible to also prepare the environment in which they would practice their integrity values after the law school. To make this a more realistic project, the mission decided to meet and enroll support of key stakeholders that can contribute to the integrity education during and after the law school. The outcome of this efforts was that in addition to UCU as a key stakeholder and partner, the mission identified: (i) the Judiciary (represented by the Chairman of the Judiciary Integrity Committee, Head of the pilot Magistrate Courts and the Chief Registrar of the High Court, (ii) Uganda Law Society, (iii) International Law Institute (ILI), and (iv) Foundation for Human Rights Initiatives (FHRI)
1. Meeting with Augustine Ruzindana, Former Head of IGG and (APNAC)


a. Issues discussed

The discussion evolved around what key stakeholders could be instrumental in advancing the LIEN project in Uganda. It was agreed that retired judges with outstanding integrity and professional records and reputation should be invited to participate in the education both at the university and in selected courts where law students should be invited to attend the court proceedings and to discuss the cases with the judge. The example of such a judge was Hon Justice Georges Kanyeihamba

The role of civil society and the judiciary overseeing the governance and transparency needed in the extractive industries in the country, was discussed and the mission agreed that too many African countries had experienced serious problems due to lack of integrity, transparency and accountability in the extractive industries. The mission agreed to raise this issue with Norwegian Embassy that is in the process of launching an Oil for Development Project in Uganda.

Ruzindana was also concerned that Uganda so far had not joined the Extractive Industries Transpareny Initiative (EITI) and that recent pressure from the civil society to increase the transparency around the ongoing oil exploration had been rejected by the President and later blocked in the courts.

On the collaboration between African Parlamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) and Tiri in the PPI project, Ruzindana remarked that although he had been given the mandate to continue this collaboration by the new Chairman of APNCA, Tiri has recently been dealing directly with the APNAC Executive Director.

Ruzindana also raised the issue of empowering the civil society to oversee the oil exploration in Uganda. The mission promised to raise this issue with the institutions in Norway responsible for the oil for development program in Uganda to find out if any resources are earmarked t

b. Agreements reached

- The mission agreed to look into the relationship between Tiri and APNAC

- The mission also agreed to raise the issue regarding Uganda joining the EITI as

part of an effort to increase the increase the transparency and accountability in the extractive industries.

- Finally the mission agreed to find out to what extent the Oil for Development Program has allocated resources to empower the civil society to oversee the extractive industries

2. Meeting with Hon Chief Justice of Uganda, Ben Odoki
a. Topics discussed:

- The implementation of the LIEN Project in Uganda

- Electoral Justice Principal Project

- Support for the Judiciary in Liberia

- Future collaboration with the Judicial Integrity Group (JIG)

b. The Implementation of the LIEN Project in Uganda

(i) Background

The Chief Justice was given a briefing of the Tiri Missions meeting with different stakeholders from Uganda Christian University (UCU). He was given a copy of the draft LIEN Strategy Document discussed and agreed with the UCU earlier in the day.

The CJ agreed with the basic concept of the LIEN program and explained how he had already initiated similar integrity activities in the judiciary in Uganda.

He explained that Uganda already was involved in the Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS) project with support of key donors and that he himself was the Chairman of this project.

He also mentioned the fact that the Uganda Judiciary had worked hard to introduced a rather advanced IT function across the judiciary including an impressive web page presenting all their excellent work. The mission recognized the quality of their webpage and many of the rather advanced related initiatives already underway with the Chief Justice strong support

Regarding involving key partners he suggested: UCU, Law Society, the Inspectors of the Courts function and the Law Development Centre. He also suggested that the mission should meet with Chief Registrar of the High Court and Justice GM Okello (Chairman, Judiciary Integrity Committee)

(ii) Agreements reached with the CJ regarding the LIEN project:

- Judiciary will be a key partner in implementation of the LIEN program in Uganda

starting with 2 pilot districts (Mukono and Iganga) with two pilot courts in each pilot district. He was pleased with selection of the pilots as his former assistant had just been promoted to be the Chief Magistrate in the Iganga District.

o He agreed to host a meeting inviting all key stakeholders/partners to finalize the LIEN Strategic Framework paper and to launch the project 19/02/10 14.30.
o For the actual implementation of the LIEN project in the pilot districts, he suggested the involvement of the Inspectors of the Courts.
o He also agreed to review and write the foreword to judicial integrity publications presented to the UCU related to the LIEN Project
o He will review and sign a letter of commitment regarding the implementation of the LIEN Program in Uganda
o The CJ will present the LIEN Pilot Project in Uganda and the lessons learned from this project to the Judicial Integrity Group
o He welcomed the development and pilot testing of a Court User Charter informing the public about their rights and their obligation. He suggested to build on the existing judicial service charter.

- He accepted the four levels of code of conduct implementation:

+ Sending the revised Code of Conduct out to all Judges and court staff (done)
+ Assure that the Code of Conduct has be read and understood by all key staff in the judiciary.
+ That the Code of Conduct Principles had to be accepted and internalized by all key parties and that
+ The Code of Conduct has to be enforced

3. Meeting with the African Centre for Legal Excellence (ILI)
a. People Met

- Swithin Munyantwali, Executive Director,

- Neha Pandya Deputy Director – Programmes and Special Projects

- Debora Rogo, Assistant Programme Coordinator.

b. Issues discussed

The mission proposed the participation of UCU law student in its PPI initiative, ILI will consider to have an intervention in one magistrate court for example in Iganga in addition to those planned to the local council courts (LCC).

Our interlocutor explained the relevance of the intervention at LCC level, in terms of access to justice, and the benefit of the law student to participate in working on the integrity performance of the selected LCCs. It was also agreed that there was need for much more information in local languages regarding the laws and other relevant tools that could help the LCCs in doing a better job.


c. Agreements reached

- ILI will consider to work on the ethical framework of the selected LCC in addition to the others training activities already planned within PPI. In agreement with the UCU Faculty of Law, the targeted student will be invited to fully participate in ILI activities including the development of the internal integrity measures, tools and methodology.

- ILI agreed to participate in the curriculum development process planned in LIEN pilot with UCU.

- The cost of engaging the law students to ILI activities in PPI will be planned and added to the PPI phase II budget.

- ILI will send a representative to participate in the first stakeholders meeting planned to be held at the Chief Justice’s Chamber on Friday 19th afternoon.

4. Meeting with Uganda Law Society (ULC)
a. People Met

- Sylvia Mukasa, Executive Director ,

- Grace Babihuga, Manager, Professional Development

b. Issues discussed

The interlocutors found the project relevant because of the increasing demand of integrity measures and competence in the law profession.

The ULS has a long experience of legal aid practices under a project supported by the Norwegian Bar Association and it was discussed how to expose UCU law students to law offices with an excellent integrity and professional reputation. ULS was willing to identify law offices with a good reputation.

Other activities related to integrity was also discussed, such as: (i) the introduction of a mandatory professional ethics course, (ii) pro bono requirement, and (iii) the amendment of the advocates acts and performance tracking of lawyers.

The differentiation of role between the Law Council, disciplinary body for lawyers, and the ULS was discussed and explained. It was agreed that the Law Council should be involved in the LIEN project and they were invited to attend the Stakeholder meeting planned later in the week.

The idea of having a legal service charter coupled with a citizen charter was found as very attractive and necessary and it was agreed to be considered as practicing opportunity for law student to participate in the development and implementation of these very important integrity measures.

c. Agreements reached

+ ULS will help identify model lawyers to mentor or educate law students
+ ULS will participate in the curriculum development process
+ ULS is willing to collaborate with UCU Faculty of Law in the work of amending the Advocate Acts
+ Tiri mission will confirm the agenda and timing of the stakeholders meeting on Friday 19th for ULS to plan the participation of its Chairman

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5. Meeting with DANIDA (Human Rights and Good Governance Programme)


a. People Met;

- Dr Katja Kerschbaumer, Advisor Access to Justice;

- Modoi Musa, Programme Coordinator Access to Justice

- Walakira Winfred, Programme Officer Legal Aid Basket Fund (LABF)

b. Issues discussed

Donors assistance in the justice sector in Uganda is through basket funds such under the JLOS programme and the LABF but DANIDA has been assisting the Judiciary separately for 15 years now. Even tough Integrity is recognized as a main focus of their assistance, it has not so far not been considered as the main focus.

Despite progress in the sectors, still much improvement is needed and the integrity issue is an important one. Specifically, concerns were raised regarding: (i) the professionalism (work duties) of magistrates outside Kampala, (ii) monitoring of judicial ethics, (iii) scoring system, (iv) economic driven attitudes, (v) culture of extra benefits and (vi) the questionable performance of the Judicial Service Committee.

It was concluded that there is currently no recent study on the public trust on courts, and DANIDA also agreed that they had not established a baseline against which they could monitor the performance of their different initiatives.

There seems to be a need for strong coordination among the donors and with the national stakeholders. Other contacts of donors’ officials working in the sectors has by the way been provided.

It is unlikely for a University to apply for and receive financial support from DANIDA under their current project on justice sector.

c. Agreements reached

The documentation and data related to the judiciary project assisted by DANIDA can be made accessible to law students doing their research and participating in the LIEN project.

6. Meeting with NORAD
a. People Met

- Samuel Kajoba, Senior Programme Officer

- Pettersen, Firste Secretary at the Embassy

b. Issues discussed

The mission presented the LIEN program and Mr Kajoba welcomed this new initative as very important in Uganda

Judicial integrity and rule of law was seen as key challenges facing Uganda and it was agreed that lots of work was needed in this area. The mission was made aware of similar project tried launched by Jussformidling- Lions Bergen to address the issues of judicial integrity as part of the education of future lawyers. The mission later received the description of this program from the Embassy and PL will follow up with the responsible Norwegian institutions during his visit to Norway in March 2010.

The mission also had questions regarding the planned Oil for Development project financed by the Norway. Mr Kajoba agreed to set up a meeting with the first secretary at the Embassy, responsible for this project.

PL met with the First Secretary at the Norwegian Embassy, Per Johansen, who responsible for the coordination regarding the Oil for Development Project. The mission was informed that Norway was about to finalize the agreement for the Oil for Development Project and when asked to what extent the EITI was part of the agreement, the mission was informed that the Project Description was of the Oil for Development (OfD) Project was not perfect and according to the First Secretary there was no conditionality in the OfD agreement that Uganda had to join the EITI

c. Agreements reached

- It was agreed that PL would follow up with the Oil for Development Project in Oslo

March 2010 (done)

- The mission also agreed with Mr Kajoba that we would contact the Jussformidling-

Lions Bergen to if they would be interested in the LIEN Uganda Project

7. Dinner with the Hon Chief Justice and the Chairperson of the JIC
a. Issues discussed

The Judiciary Integrity Committee is an advisory body assisting judges and judicial officers in promoting integrity in the profession. Members are going on tour to meet professionals and the citizen to advance the Committee`s agenda. The professionals seem to be open and receptive of the mission of the Committee.

The Chairman expressed the desire to know more about the Tiri methodologies to advance integrity in judicial setting. It has been clarified that Tiri is only facilitating and supporting partners to find the appropriate methodologies for their context.

b. Agreements reached

The Chairman of the JIC agreed to:

- participate in the stakeholders meeting on Friday the 19th and

- participate in the curriculum development process

8. Meeting with the Law Development Centre (LDC)
a. People Met

- Elijahm Wante, Executive Director

b. Issues discussed

The LDC in its curriculum for initial education of lawyers has professional ethics component and integrity among the topic discussed. It trains also other judicial officers in continuing education.

The Executive Director is also member of the Law Council and was interested in involving LIEN Uganda to strengthen the focus on integrity in the legal education.

c. Agreements reached

The LDC will be happy to collaborate on the curriculum development process and need a formal request from Tiri to be able to do so. Upon this request, the mission will be linked to the trainer in charge of the professional ethics for collaboration perspective.

9. Meeting with GTZ
a. People Met

Diana Doris Akiidii, Consultant Good Governance

b. Issues discussed

In the review of the donors assistance and coordination on good governance, it has been noted that DFID is chairing the donor working group on good governance and it would be important to meet with the officer in charge. A meeting of the group was planned and it could be a great opportunity for the mission to present LIEN there.

GTZ assistance in governance will be ending soon and no other initiatives will be supported under this assistance.

c. Agreements reached

The interlocutor agreed to talk with the DFID governance person for a meeting and to put LIEN in the group agenda during the meeting.

10. Travel to the Iganga District
a. Meeting at the Iganga Chief Magistrate Court with the (FHRI)

(i) People Met

- Chief Magistrate

- Magistrate Grade 1

- Magistrate Grade 2

(ii) Issues discussed

Common integrity challenges faced by magistrates and court staff have been discussed and one of them was agreed to be the lack of professionalism regarding: (i) work attendance (many who are working across Uganda have their families in Kampala and spend long weekends there resulting in a 3 days working week) , (ii) enforcement of code of conduct, (iii) .

Insufficient knowledge on legal matters and the understanding of the judicial system has been seen to be the cause of low public trust in the courts and the judiciary as a whole. The meeting concluded that it is practically impossible for a Chief magistrate to supervise the many LCCs under his/her responsibility and the practice is to systematically reject cases mishandled by LCCs.

One interesting point raised during discussion was the fact that Courts improving their performance and thereby the public trust in the courts, are likely to see an increase in workload as a result. It was agreed that the judiciary should be flexible in increasing the staffing to keep up with the increased workload to avoid the otherwise negative effects on a courts doing a good job.

Some integrity measures such as… has been suggested and can be useful for students to participate.

Another interesting point raised during the discussion was the fact that the public perception of the judiciary is based on the work of the LCCs as much as the Magistrate Courts and a general improvement of the public trust in the legal system will only be possible if the performance of the LCCs and the Magistrate Courts.

(iii) Agreements reached

- It has been acknowledged that without serious care to the LCC performance, the perception of the judiciary will not improve despite efforts to reform at formal courts.

- The Court in Iganga was also interested in the pilot testing of tools that could improve the public understanding of their rights and the work of the courts including: (i) the development and pilot testing of a Court User Charter, (ii) improved information about the law through the radio or through written material, both in local languages.

- The court in Iganga would be happy to welcome students to participate in their activities and the integrity agenda.

b. Meeting at the Iganga Local Council Court (LCC)

(i) People Met

Chairmen (around 12) of LCC in Iganga District

(ii) Issues discussed

Common misbehavior dealt by LCCs are theft, defilement, corruption and adultery. They apply the law according to common sense.

Challenges faced by LCC in administrating justice are: (i) lack of training, (ii) adequate resources in keeping records, (iii) fees charged to the litigants, (iv) relationship with the magistrate courts, (v) lack of access to relevant legal information in local language; (vi) lack of a code of conduct for the LCC members also in local language.

High trust level of community members to the LCC seems to be due to: (i) the proximity to the court itself, (ii) the respect for and trust in the LCC representatives from their own community, (iii) the reconciliation approach and (iv) the understandable language used.

The LCC representatives felt strongly the need for more access to the (i) Law, (ii) important cases and (iii) Code of conduct all in local language.

They also welcomed the development and dissemination of Court User Charter to educate the court users about their rights.

Participation of law students to the improvement of LCCs integrity performance and their activities is generally welcomed.

(iii) Agreements reached

- The students are welcomed to contribute to the translation of the legal

framework of the LCC to major local languages and to the right awareness raising of the community members.

- The LCC representatives also welcomed the pilot testing of (i) Code of Conduct for the members of the LCC, (ii) the mandate and jurisdiction of the LCC and (iii) a Court User Charter, all in local language.

c . Meeting with Teaching Staff at the Bugweri College School Idudi

(i) People Met

- Kibedi James Richard, School Director

- School Principal

- 3 teachers

(ii) Issues discussed

Schools face high rate of drop-out and most of the time the causes are from the parents who still need sensitization on the importance of education.

Having law students teaching law to high school students (street law type) are welcomed and even the teaching staff would like to benefit from such a course. It was expressed as important that the parents should also be targeted by the law and integrity education and that such training would be most appropriated if done in local language.

(iii) Agreement Reached

It was agreed that the mission would coordinate with UCU to see to what

extent Law Students could be involved in a project at the Bugweri College

School Idudi

d. Meeting with Tiri Buwanda Community Centre for Integrity (TBCCI), Kanengo

(i) People Met

- Moses Kyewalyanga, coordinator

- Executive Committee and Staff members

- Local Councilors

- 300-400 Community members of all ages

(ii) Issues discussed

A series of speeches described the achievement and the action plan of the TBCCI which was started in 2009. The Community wanted to start with post primary education.

It was reported that thanks to empowerment facilitated by PPI project, the community was able to make the case for a new school financed by local government funds. At the time of our visit to the community, we witnessed the construction of the new school by military engineer unit.

The mission planted two trees for the integrity center on the land given by the community to set up the Integrity Center office.

11. Meeting with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC)
a. People Met

Henry Kyemba, Member (non judicial)

b. Issues discussed

The Commission is the regulatory body of judges and magistrates and the discussion was around the smooth transition of law graduates to the profession with the likelihood to find support at the workplace when behaving in lines with infused values from Law school.

It was also acknowledged that it is unfair to give wrong expectation to law students on the integrity status of the professions and let them know the reality. It is therefore necessary to encourage all the involved parties to learn from the Ugandan mistakes in the past rather than those lessons learned from other countries.

The meeting agreed that there is need for improve the enforcement of the code of conduct and to start a process in the pilot courts with the testing of the situation regarding the four levels of the Coded of conduct:

- access to the Code of Conduct

- understanding of the content of the CoC

- accepting the content of the CoC

- fair, transparent and consistent enforcement of the CoC

The meeting also agreed that rule of law is critical for the development of Uganda and that the code of conduct was, despite many good initiatives launched by the judicial service commission, not enforced sufficiently. As a result judicial staff were not enforcing rule of law resulting in low public trust in the courts.

It was also agreed that increased focus on integrity in the law schools was an excellent initiative that the judicial service commission welcomed and was willing to support.

c. Agreements reached

- Upon request to the Chairman, the record of the Committee on the disciplinary cases will be open to the law students for research and case studies.

- The Judicial Service Commission was willing to join the effort to increase the performance of the pilot courts

- The Judicial Service Commission was also willing to help facilitate the increased enforcement of Code of Conducts in the pilot courts and to pilot test a Court User Chart to educate the courts users understanding of their rights

12. Meeting with the Flavia Senoga Anglin Chief Registrar of the High Court
a. Issues discussed

1. The progresses in the integrity movement at the lower courts and the role of the Chief registrar in the regulation was well described by the Chief Registrar (CR).

2. The issue of absenteeism of magistrates posted in courts outside Kampala was also discussed and presented as a key challenge facing the judiciary,

3. The meeting also discussed the challenges facing judiciary due to the lack of enforcement of the existing code of conduct.

4. The CR described how the judiciary under the strong leadership of the Chief Justice, hd enforced

5. The Chief Registrar welcomed the introduction of integrity in the Law Schools and agreed that increased interface between law students and well run model courts would be an important aspect of integrity training for the students

6. Several integrity measures have been suggested and could be of benefit of the law students such as…

b. Agreements reached

1. The Chief Registrar agreed to be a member of the proposed LIEN Uganda Steering Committee.

2. The Chief Registrar also agreed that in order to improve the public trust in the judiciary and the courts, it is necessary to increase the enforcement of the Code of Conduct (CoC) through several credible initiatives including:

- Increase the follow up of public complaints

- Increase the sharing of completed corruption cases involving judges

13. Meeting with the Chief Justice and the LIEN Uganda Partners
a. People Met

Hon. Chief Justice and attended by: Justice GM Okello (Chairman, Judiciary Integrity Committee), Bruce Kyerere (President, Uganda Law Society), Sylvia Mukasa (Dirctor ULS), Grace Babihunga (ULS), Debora Rogo (International Law Institute, Africa), Achieng Miriam Uganda Christian University (UCU) and Tulibagenyi Daniel (UCU), Brian Dennison (Lecturer, Legal Clinic Education) (UCU), Patrick Rafolisy (Tiri), Dr. Petter Langseth (Tiri consultant), Ken Otieno (Tiri)

b. Issues discussed

See separate report in Attachment 1

c. Agreements reached

See separate report in Attachment 1


C. PREPARATION OF THE LIEN UGANDA STRATEGY WITH UCU


Two (2) sessions were organized to discuss the foundation of the LIEN strategy of UCU and Tiri for the 3 coming years.

1. Monday 15th, Meeting with the UCU Law Faculty Staff in Mukono,


a. People Met

- Hope Atuhairwe, Acting Dean of the UCU Law School,

- Brian Dennison, Lecturer, Legal Clinic Education,

- Achieng Miriam , Assistant Lecturer

- Tulibagenyi Daniel, Assistant Lecturer

- 2 Student Representatives

b. Issues discussed

The UCU staff explained their vision and how they were going to introduce integrity and ethics into the curriculum in the law school.

One issue raised by the Tiri delegation was to what extent it was necessary to, in addition to increase the students integrity and ethical values, initiate programs that would improve the integrity both in the private law firms and in the judiciary. The UCU staff and students welcomed this approach and they also suggested that the law students could possibly play a role in facilitating this change by empowering the public when it comes to understand their rights.

The UCU staff has already developed many interesting activities that can capitalized.

c. Agreements reached

The session will be continued on the 17th.

2. Wednesday 17th Meeting with the UCU Law Faculty Staff in Mukono,
a. Issues discussed

This second session was devoted to discuss the logical framework (See draft in Annex 3) of the LIEN-U and to finalize the draft strategic framework.

b. Agreements reached

- The draft strategic document will be shared with the key stakeholders during the meeting on Friday 19th afternoon decided to be held in Kampala in the Chief Justice’s Chamber. See draft in Annex 2.

- According to the changes from the strategic sessions, UCU will send a revised proposal with appropriate budget.

- UCU and Tiri will review the action plan and agree on dates for the joint activities. Each party will set up dates for the activities they lead and will inform the other party.

- The signature of the grant agreement will be done once the two parties agreed on the activities and the budget, given that changes can occur after the stakeholders meeting.

3. Meeting with Students attending the Integrity Clinic at the Law School
a. People Met

The UCU staff from the Legal Clinic Education

12 students attending the Integrity Course.

b. Issues discussed

The session was about international and regional indicators of good governance and corruption, such as the Mo Ibrahim index. The opportunity was taken to: (i) introduce the LIEN initiative in Uganda to the UCU Faculty of Law and (iii) to test the interest of law students in the proposed LIEN project.

The students were eager to join the initiative and suggested many interesting innovative activities for the integrity education.

Going around the table each of the students were asked to suggest an activity that could help strengthen the integrity among law students.

Activities recommended by the students included:

1. Internship and attachment of graduate students to legal aid projects to provide opportunity for exposure.

2. Students could contribute to the integrity page of the ULS magazine and other publications

3. Development and dissemination of information education and communication materials in local languages to various stakeholders (brochures, pamphlets, web pages etc.)

4. Radio and TV talk shows in local languages about the law

5. Attachment of law students to some of the pilot courts for assistance and exposure

6. Translation of relevant materials into local languages

7. Students to run a law journal on integrity

8. Law students to participate in court monitoring together with civil society organisation, e.g with the Foundation of Human Rights Initiatives (FHRI)

9. Law Council using student interns to help manage the case load

c. Agreement Reached

1. Representatives from the UCU and Tiri agreed to develop a format that would finance the involvement of students in:

(i) curriculum development

(ii) participation in projects at the pilot court level

(iii) participation in projects at the LCC level

2. Another agreement reached was to develop a TOR for a Students Focal Point (SFP) involving three students currently studying at the UCU Law Faculty and inrolled at the Legal Clinic.

3. It was also agreed to look for additional funding for the activities above

D. CONCLUSION


The decision to increase the scope the number of local partners involved in the project, turned out to be a good decision. The Chief Justice himself agreed to be a champion for the project and he encouraged key players in the judiciary including: (i) the Chairman of the Judiciary Service Committee, (ii) the Chief Registrar of the High Court and (iii) the Heads of Chief Magistrate Courts in the pilot districts, all to be actively involved in the project.

A LIEN Uganda project Steering Committee was elected with credible members representing key institutions including the: (i) the Judiciary (represented by the Chairman of the Judiciary Integrity Committee, Head of the pilot Magistrate Courts and the Chief Registrar of the High Court, (ii) Uganda Law Society, (iii) International Law Institute (ILI), (iv) Foundation for Human Rights Initiatives (FHRI) and the Uganda Christian University (UCU) represented by the Dean of the Law school and the lecturer of legal clinic education

The Chief Justice shared with the LIEN Uganda Steering Committee how he had been a member of the international Judicial Integrity Group (JIG) responsible for developing the Bangalore Principles for Judicial Integrity and emphasized the importance of empowering key partners to disseminate and help enforce these key principles.

He also invited key partners to develop and disseminate a Citizen or Court User Charter to empower and help the court users and the citizens to better understand their rights and obligations. The CJ welcomed a pilot testing of the Citizen Charter in the two LIEN pilot regions (Mukono and Iganga) involving the judiciary, court users/the public, UCU law students and the other LIEN partners in the process.

He noted that there has been a gap between ethics and integrity training needed by lawyers and the training offered and he was confident that the Tiri Legal Integrity Education Network (LIEN) pilot programme planned for Uganda would greatly contribute towards filling this gap.

He also observed that public empowerment through sensitization and education was necessary to complement efforts to reform the integrity of the courts and public empowerment should therefore be a complementary factor in the LIEN Uganda program.

He welcomed the innovative approach of targeting law students to improve the integrity of the judiciary and he welcomed the active involvement of the UCU which he saw as a very credible partner.

He also emphasized the importance of establishing a baseline against which the impact of the pilot program could be monitored in a transparent manner. He encourage the application of action learning allowing the stakeholders to try new approaches and use the regular monitoring to identify what initiatives are increasing the public trust in the courts and what does not.

With this excellent guidance and support from the Chief Justice of the Uganda and the credible and representative LIEN Uganda Steering Committee in place, the challenge for the project and Tiri is to: (i) facilitate the development of a realistic project action plan that is fully endorsed by all key stakeholders and partners and (ii) identify the necessary funding to implement the agreed action plan.

To allow for the action learning to take place, it is critical that a base line is established in both the two pilot districts and two other districts to allow a credible benchmarking.

Another key challenge is the active involvement of the students in the process of empowering the citizens so that they better understand their rights and obligations.

On outstanding issues that needs to be explored during the next mission is to identify credible institutions to represent: (i) the civil society and (ii) the people working in the local courts.