Legal Aid Affords Poor People Justice

Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki delivers his speech after receiving a petition from the Uganda Law Society members

IT is the cornerstone of building a just society. Legal aid, as Uganda’s chief justice Benjamin Odoki further describes it, is an equitable process for the poor and most vulnerable persons to access judicial services, inasmuch as their richer counterparts easily do. With legal aid, persons with no readily affordability of it, find confidence for equal protection before the law.

In a bid to sensitise Ugandans as to its availability, the government of Uganda, between October 26 and 28, organized a national Legal Aid Conference at Speke Resort and Country Club, in Munyonyo, in Kampala. The first ever convention in the country, was held under the theme: ‘Legal Aid – a Constitutional Right’.

The 1995 constitution of Uganda (as amended), guarantees the right to a fair hearing. But, it may also be construed that one against whom civil proceedings are instituted, is entitled to just and speedy processes under the law.