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A comparative study of the legal profession in East Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
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When Lord Denning made his Report on Legal Education in Africa in 1961,2 there were very few African lawyers in Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda.3 During the 1960's the number of African lawyers in these countries rapidly increased. The public sector has been largely Africanized, but the private sector of the profession remains predominantly non-African.4 The 1970's will see an even more rapid increase in the number of African lawyers.5 This increase and the departure of numerous non-African lawyers,6 will bring about almost complete Africanization of the profession by 1980.7
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2 Cmnd. 1255.
3 Ibid., at p. 5. The figures given were: Kenya 10 out of 300, in Uganda 20 out of 150, in Tanganyika, 1 out of 100.
4 Private bar—Uganda (in February, 1971), 32 African, 9 European and 120 Asian (Membership list of Uganda Law Society); Tanzania (at the end of 1968), 25 citizens and 115 non-citizens (Second Five-Year Plan, Vol. IV, Table 4, Category A). In the First Five-Year Plan (end of 1963) the figures for total employment in the profession were: 41 Africans, 45 Europeans and 65 Asians—(Table A(i) ); Kenya (as of end of 1967), II Africans, 224 Asians and 57 Europeans took out practising certificates (Ghai and McAuslan, Public Law and Political Change in Kenya, p. 403).
5 In Uganda 50 lawyers a year will graduate from 1974. The total new lawyers during the 1970's will be approximately 390. Fifty lawyers a year will graduate in Kenya from i976.Their total for the 1970's will be about 370. Tanzania already has 50 graduates a year. Its total for the 1970's will be approximately 450 (some of the graduates in the early 1970's will have been from Kenya and Uganda).
6 Many lawyers were non-citizens; for example, in Kenya at the end of 1967, of the total of 368 lawyers more than half, 186, were non-citizens: Development Plan, 1970–74, 117, and as more restrictions were adopted concerning their activities and ownership of property, they chose to leave the country. A similar situation existed in Uganda and Tanzania. With the expulsion of the Asians from Uganda, the Asian lawyer ceased to exist in that country.
7 The Kenya Government has stated that its educational and manpower development programmes are based on the target that almost all professional and technical posts will be occupied by citizens by 1982.
8 In 1972 in the United States there was one lawyer for every 800 people and by 1980 the figure will be approximately one for every 700. In Uganda in 1972 there was one lawyer for every 40,000 people, and by 1980 there would be approximately one for every 25,000 inhabitants.
page 280 note 1 Address to the Law Society of Zambia, April 24th, 1970, and quoted in the University of Zambia, School of Law Handbook, 1971, p. 1.
page 280 note 2 There is an element of political instability in all three societies, but I am assuming that the basic political philosophy will remain the same during the 1970's.
page 280 note 3 See for Kenya, Ghai and McAuslan, op. cit., pp. 382–395; for Uganda see S. Ross, “The growth of the legal profession in Uganda up to independence”, 35 Uganda Journal 1, p. 83 (1971).
page 280 note 4 Formal interviews in Uganda and discussions with colleagues from Kenya and Tanzania.
page 280 note 5 In Uganda (in February, 1971) 121 of the 161 lawyers in private practice were in Kampala. In Kenya (at the end of 1968) 199 of the 292 were in Nairobi and 49 more in Mombasa. (Ghai and McAuslan, op. cit., p. 404). The figures for Uganda have changed drastically since the expulsion of the Asians.
page 281 note 1 Examination of Membership List of Uganda Law Society, interviews and discussions. In West Africa it has been stated that lawyers practise alone because of the fact that most have been trained as barristers; and in England they are prohibited from forming partnerships. See Gower, Independent Africa—The Challenge to the Legal Profession, 1967, Part III, The Legal Profession. In an interview, the then Secretary of the Uganda Law Society said that the vast majority of Uganda lawyers practised alone, but not for the reasons stated by Gower. The reasons he gave were the cultural differences and the type of legal problems that made up the practice of law in Uganda (interviewed on February 24th, 1971).
page 281 note 2 The former Secretary of the Uganda Law Society during my interview with him.
page 281 note 3 Field work observation.
page 281 note 4 There are only a few solicitors in each of the three countries, as in West Africa (see Gower, loc. cit.). Zambia seems to have been the exception in independent black Africa, in that at independence a majority of the profession were solicitors (The Northern Rhodesia Law Directory and Legal Calendar, 1963, lists 37 solicitors out of the 57 members).
page 281 note 5 See Gower, Part III for the same situation in West Africa.
page 281 note 6 The Uganda government's view was expressed in an editorial in the government's party newspaper The People, December 19th, 1967 at p. 2:
“The government intends to revolutionize the legal set up in this country so that we have lawyers who have been trained with a Ugandan outlook in order to meet our needs more satisfactorily.
We have been hand[i]capped with the shortage of manpower in the legal sector and therefore we had to accept foreign trained lawyers out of necessity. Many elements of the British system have been incorporated into our own system. Uganda is an independent country which must seek what suits us best. There is no point in having such titles as ‘Q.C.” and wearing wigs and gowns in Ugandan courts. These things are British and have no grounding in our cultural background.
Lawyers who have been foreign trained of course are not well informed about Uganda's legal needs because if one is trained in London or Bombay his legal services suit the respective country best and not Uganda. That is why the government has taken practical steps to train law students in this country.”
In The People, February 13th, 1970, p. 1, the Attorney-General accused the Law Society of engaging in sherry parties and not disciplining its members.
In the debate on the Advocates Bill, 1970, the Attorney-General stated that he received many complaints from the public that they were unhappy about their treatment by advocates. “… the public seem to think of lawyers as clever manipulators of technical rules.… ” (Uganda Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), vol. 101, p. 7—June 15th, 1970). See also the paper by the then Solicitor-General (later Attorney-General) of Uganda, P. J. Nkambo-Mugerwa, “The Legal Profession and Legal Education in Uganda”, in Proceedings of the Conference on Legal Education in Africa, appendices, p. 11; and S. D. Ross, “The Advocates 1970 Uganda”, [1971] J.A.L. 225.
In Tanzania, the Attorney-General, M. Bomani, stated in an address given to the Denning Law Society:
“In a society such as ours the lawyer is a person who has great potentialities. He has a great part to play in the development of the society. In order that the social, economic, educational and cultural aspirations of all the people may be fulfilled under the rule of law, there must be a positive attempt by lawyers, including judges, teachers, attorneys and lawyer-legislators towards that end.
How do lawyers of Tanzania fare? I think rather badly. We have a large number of practising lawyers here. There is also an organisation of lawyers in this country. Yet, I am sorry to say, there is not as much contribution from them on the lines indicated as one would like.” (The Tanzanian Standard, February 15th, 1966.)
See also the comments of the former Dean of the Faculty of Law at Dar es Salaam, Yash Ghai, in Proceedings of the Conference on Legal Education, p. 25.
For Kenya, see Ghai and McAuslan, op. cit., pp. 404–406.
page 282 note 1 The salaries for civil servants are extremely high in comparison with the average wages in the societies. This is because the colonial civil service salary structure was adopted; this included all the fringe benefits—housing, loans, travel etc.
page 282 note 2 Obote's “Common Man's Charter” and in Kenya the famous Sessional Paper No. 10 of 1963/65, “African Socialism and Its Application to Planning in Kenya”.
page 283 note 1 In a survey the author made of the whole first graduating class, 9 out of the 21 students who planned to pursue a legal career wished eventually to enter private practice. The survey is published in an article, “Makerere's first graduating class” (1971), 7 E.A.L.J. 160.
page 283 note 2 In implementing his “Common Man's Charter”, Obote had already nationalized a large number of the private corporations. President Amin had gone in a similar direction taking over Asian property—the Declaration of Assets (Non-Citizen Asians) Decree, 1972, but these assets are being turned over to Africans. Therefore the basic capitalistic philosophy has not changed.
page 283 note 3 See n. 7, p. 281 above, for the government's attacks on the profession and author's article on the 1970 Advocate's Act.
page 283 note 4 The results were: highly in favour 4, slightly in favour o, slightly opposed 2, and highly opposed 10. See n. 1 above.
page 283 note 5 Uganda Argus, March 6th, 1972, p. 7.
page 283 note 6 The Times, January 11th, 1973, p. 8.
page 283 note 7 Personal correspondence.
page 284 note 1 The student attends the University for 40 weeks and for the other 10 weeks he works at the end of his first year for the Legal Corporation, end of the second year for the Attorney-General, and at the end of the third year for the judiciary.
page 284 note 2 Interviews and discussions with members of the Dar es Salaam Law Faculty.
page 284 note 3 Interview with Professor R. James of the Dar es Salaam Law Faculty, March 11th, 1972.
page 284 note 4 Idem; another member of the Faculty, Mr. Kato, estimated that there were only approximately 50 lawyers left in private practice. Professor James stated in his interview that only 10 African lawyers were in private practice. The latest government report in Tanzania, Annual Report of the Judiciary, 1967 (published in 1970) states at p. 13 that 156 advocates took out practising certificates during 1967. This was 18 fewer than in 1965. (Annual Report of Judiciary, 1965, p. 17.)
page 284 note 5 The Law Faculty is still conducting courses for a private-law-oriented society, although certain changes in the curriculum have already been instituted; these included Civil Law Systems (usually taught by a visiting lecturer from an East European socialist country) and Public Enterprises and Co-operatives (which replaces Company Law, but so far is almost the same course as Company Law).
page 284 note 6 Interview with the former Dean of the Law Faculty, Y. P. Ghai by Professor Russell, March 1971.
page 285 note 1 Interview with Professor James, p. 284, n. 3.
page 285 note 2 See below on legal aid.
page 285 note 3 Interview with Professor James.
page 285 note 4 Handbook, University of Zambia, School of Law, 1969, p. 2.
page 286 note 1 In May 1972 a leading member of the Uganda Law Society, its former President and at that time its representative on the Law Council, was taken from his home by military police. He was reported as “missing” by the Government. The Law Society did not make any public protest to try and save his life. When the Chief Justice was seized by people posing as members of the military, nothing was done to find him, nor any protest made. In all three countries the Law Societies made only minor protest against detention legislation.
In Kenya a leading member of the Bar was deprived of his citizenship and deported for representing the leader of the opposition party. The profession reacted by avoiding representing the opposition party. (Ghai and McAuslan, op. cit., p. 401.)
page 286 note 2 The largest partnership in Uganda has seven lawyers. Nairobi has several firms with more lawyers as partners.
page 286 note 3 Twelve out of 23 in the first graduate class of Uganda had worked for the government.
page 286 note 4 Professor Russell travelled throughout Uganda during 1970–1, interviewing magistrates and judges, for the Ugandan government. His report, “The Administration of Justice in Uganda: Some Problems and Proposals” was submitted May 1971. At p. 166 he states: “7 of the 13 Chief Magistrates and 10 of the 13 High Court Judges” are non-Africans.
page 286 note 5 Report of the Conference, p. 102.
page 287 note 1 East African Law Today, 1966 p. 142.
page 287 note 2 Richardson, “Whither Lay Justice in Africa?” in Gluckman, ed., Ideas and procedures in African Customary Law, p. 129.
page 287 note 3 Ibid., p. 131.
page 287 note 4 Georges, “The Court in the Tanzania One-Party State”, p. 45–63.
page 287 note 5 Op. cit., p. 372.
page 287 note 6 Government memorandum on the report of a committee appointed to study and make recommendations concerning legal education, 1969, p. 14, para. 58.
page 287 note 7 Russell Report, see p. 286, n. 4.
page 287 note 8 Only one graduate of the first class wanted to enter the judiciary, and he wanted to be a judge!; see p. 283, n. 1.
page 288 note 1 Personal communication.
page 288 note 2 Allott,“The Future of African Law”, in Kuper and Kuper, eds., African Law: Adaptation and Development, p. 232.
page 288 note 3 Ibid., pp. 232–3.
page 288 note 4 Ibid., p. 231.
page 289 note 1 Cotran, “The Place and Future of Customary Law in East Africa”, in East African Law Today, p. 76. The rest of the article (pp. 72–92) describes the situation in all of East Africa.
page 289 note 2 Magistrates' Courts Act, s. 8 (1).
page 289 note 3 Ibid., s. 8 (3).
page 289 note 4 M. R. Nicholson, Legal change in Tanzania as seen among the Sukuma (unpublished D.Phil. thesis submitted in 1968 to the University of Minnesota), p. 174.
page 289 note 5 Ibid., p. 191.
page 289 note 6 For an interesting comparison of dispute settlement institutions in four societies—the Soga of Uganda, the Lozi (or Barotse) of Zambia, the Tiv of Nigeria and the Arusha of Tanzania, see L. A. Fallers, Law without precedent, pp. 326–332. See also Gulliver, Social control in an African society: A Study of the Arusha: Agricultural Masai of Northern Tanganyika; Bohannan, Justice and judgment among the Tiv; and Gluckman, The Judicial process among the Barotse of Northern Nigeria.
page 290 note 1 Penal Code, s. 86 states: “Any person who—(a) Not being a judicial officer assumes to act as a judicial officer …is guilty of a misdemeanour.” This section has never been interpreted and there are no reported cases applying its provisions.
page 290 note 2 Russell has stated that “it may well be that with official courts now somewhat less accessible [after the unification by the Magistrates' Courts Act, 1964] (they are also nearly 50 per cent. more expensive in terms of court fees and other costs) than the African Courts, these unofficial tribunals are used even more frequently than they were before integration. Russell Report, p. 9.
There are two excellent studies of the unofficial courts done in Uganda during the mid- 1950's—see J. H. M. Beattie, Informal Judicial Activities in Bunyoro (1955), 9 J.A.A. 188; and A. W. Southall and D. C. W. Gutkind, Townsmen in the Making. The latter study took place in Kampala and its suburbs and Mr. Southall recently told the author that one of his students is now attending sessions of one of the unofficial courts that existed in 1955 when the original study was made.
See also M. T. Mushanga, “Polygyny in Kigezi” (1970), 34 Uganda Journal, p. 201. On p. 206 he discusses the fact that most divorce law problems are handled by arbitration tribunals in the village.
page 290 note 3 Nicholson, p. 181.
page 290 note 4 Ibid., pp. 138–148.
page 290 note 5 Gulliver, “Jie of Uganda” in Peoples of Africa, ed. Gibbs, p. 101.
page 290 note 6 Gulliver, Social control in an African Society, p. 273.
page 290 note 7 Nicholson, p. 236.
page 290 note 8 Report of the Commission of Enquiry—Public Service Structure and Remuneration Commission, 1970–71 (known as the Ndegwa Report).
page 291 note 1 Ibid., para. 51.
page 291 note 2 Report of the Presidential Commission on the Establishment of a Democratic one-Party State, para. 167.
page 291 note 3 S.67 (1).
page 291 note 4 S.67 (3).
page 291 note 5 S.67 (1), (4).
page 291 note 6 S. 67 (5).
page 291 note 7 S. 10 (1).
page 291 note 8 S. 16. There are certain exceptions, especially in cases of national security.
page 291 note 9 S. 17 (1).
page 291 note 10 S. 17(2).
page 291 note 11 S. 15(1).
page 291 note 12 Annual Report of Permanent Commission of Enquiry, 1967–8, para. 13.
page 291 note 13 Annual Report, 1968–9, mentions in para. 5 that there was an increase in judicial complaints over the previous year.
page 291 note 14 S. 10 (2) of the Act.
page 292 note 1 Annual Report, 1967–68, para. 6. It visited 7 regions, 10 districts and 45 divisions and addressed 21,267 people.
page 292 note 2 Ibid., para. 7. The Report for 1968–69 reported that attendance had increased over the previous year.
page 292 note 3 E. A. M. Mang'enya, “An Ombudsman modified to suit Tanzania conditions”, 1969 (mimeo). But in the Annual Report of the Commission, 1968–9, it is stated in para. 6 that “most of the local residents [at the public meetings] expressed through talks and conversations the feelings that the Commission [represented] a visible sign of positive protection of their basic rights. The Commission, they felt, reminded them of the old institution at which individuals had a fair hearing. This was the view held by most of the people in the places visited this year. This to some extent indicates some understanding of the Commission's functions by the Public, and is indeed encouraging”.
In para. 7 of the 1968–9 Annual Report it is also stated: “Most Tanzanians are now aware of the existence of the Commission.
page 292 note 4 Mang'enya, “An Ombudsman Modified to suit Tanzania Conditions”, pp. 165–9, states that among the Sukuma the local people have little knowledge of changes in the law,
page 293 note 1 Poor Persons Act, cap. 51 (Uganda); see also Tanzania Legal Aid Act (Criminal Proceedings), 1960.
page 293 note 2 Even in capital punishment cases there is no guarantee of having representation. See Mohammed v. R. (1958), E.A. 202, a Tanzanian case which denied the defendant counsel in a murder case because he owned ten head of cattle. He was convicted.
page 293 note 3 Ord. XXX (Uganda).
page 293 note 4 The People, 13 February 1970, p. 8.
page 293 note 5 Interview with the Secretary of the Law Society, p. 281, n. 2.
page 293 note 6 Some help is provided by the Law Faculty.
page 293 note 7 Interviews with practitioners in Mbale and Jinja, March-April, 1971.
page 293 note 8 Ghai and McAuslan, op. cit., p. 400; see also Twining in East African Law Today, 1966 at pp. 115–151 and in East African Law and Social Change, at pp. 250–255.
page 293 note 9 Ghai and McAuslan, p. 400.
page 293 note 10 Law Development Centre Act, 1970, s. 2 (1) (4).
page 293 note 11 But due to Law Society opposition the students will not be able to give legal advice, nor appear before any court. There was some doubt whether the programme would start in 1972, as the Attorney-General has come out in opposition to it (private communications and conversations with members of the Law Council).
page 293 note 12 See Y. Ghai, “The Legal Aid Program at the University of East Africa in Dar es Salaam”, in Conference on Legal Education in Africa, p. 72.
page 293 note 13 Y. Ghai, interviewed by Russell, see above, p. 284, n. 6.
page 294 note 1 Copy of interview sent to author by Professor James.
page 294 note 2 Private communication from a member of the Faculty.
page 294 note 3 Interview with Professor James, see p. 284, n. 3.
page 294 note 4 See Jackson, The Machinery of Justice in England, 5th ed. 1967, at pp. 156–7.
page 294 note 5 Professor Russell, as part of his study, had all the civil cases in the small town of Mbarara checked over a three-month period. Out of the thousands of cases filed a lawyer was involved throughout all the proceedings in only 86. The side represented by counsel prevailed in 82 of the cases.
page 294 note 6 Ghai and McAuslan, op. cit. p. 404.
page 294 note 7 Annual Report of the Department of Legal Aid, 1970, p. 5.
page 294 note 8 Ibid.
page 295 note 1 Ibid, annexes.
page 295 note 2 Ibid., p. 4.
page 295 note 3 64,719 K for 1970. Ibid., annexes.
page 295 note 4 Ibid., p. 75.
page 295 note 5 Zambia Legal Aid Act, 1967, s. 2.
page 295 note 6 Zambia Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), vol. IX, 7, 11th March 1967, p. 187; ss. 7 and 11 of the Act.
page 295 note 7 Ss. 8 and 9 (1), (2).
page 295 note 8 S. 10(3).
page 295 note 9 Annual Report of the Department of Legal Aid, 1970, p. 5.
page 295 note 10 Ss. 14, 15 and 16.
page 295 note 11 S.12.
page 295 note 12 S.13.
page 295 note 13 Annual Report of the Department of Legal Aid, 1970, p. 3.
page 295 note 14 Ibid., p. 5. But anyone with an income of more than 400 Ks is ineligible (p. 5 Report on Legal Aid); ss. 17, 18.
page 296 note 1 Annual Report of the Department of Legal Aid, 1970, p. 5.
page 296 note 2 S. 5 (1).
page 296 note 3 S. 5 (2).
page 296 note 4 Interview with Professor James, above, p. 284, n. 3.
page 296 note 5 Ibid.
page 296 note 6 Interviews with lawyers in area, March-April, 1971.
page 296 note 7 MR. JUSTICE JONES'S statement on the third appeal of a Bugisu land dispute supports this point: “Disputed lands have no boundaries. The lands are not surveyed. It is an almost impossible task to come to any decision which is acceptable. The loser in most cases will rarely accept the decision of the court and certainly no boundary marked out by the lower courts.” (Mikwana v. Okecho Civil Appeal No. 89, (1969).
page 296 note 8 See R.James, Land Tenure and Policy in Tanzania, 1971.
page 296 note 9 During my interviews in Bugisu I was told of several incidents where mobs had chased away Government surveyors.
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