Kenyan Lawyer Martha Karua Granted Practising Certificate to Represent Besigye in Court

The Uganda Law Council has issued Kenyan lawyer, Martha Karua, with a practising certificate to enable her to represent Dr Kizza Besigye and Hajji Obeid Lutale.

Besigye and Lutale will return to the General Court Martial in Makindye tomorrow, Tuesday, January 7, 2025.

At the close of last year, the lobby for East African lawyers sued Uganda for refusing to allow Kenya’s Martha Karua to represent Besigye in the court martial.

The East African Law Society (EALS), the regional bar association, said in a petition before the East African Court of Justice that the move to deny Karua a special practising certificate is inconsistent with the obligation to promote the harmonisation of the profession and cross-border legal practice under Article 126 of the East African Community (EAC) Treaty.

The senior counsel had applied for a special practising certificate on December 6 to appear before the general court-martial. But the application was declined by Uganda’s Law Council, the authority that grants licences to lawyers to practise, citing Section 18 of the Advocates Act.

On Monday, the Uganda Law Council rescinded its earlier decision and issued a temporary practising certificate to the Kenyan lawyer.

It was a unanimous decision by the council members to allow Karua’s appeal, which she filed before the Law Society President, Isaac Ssemakadde.

The meeting, chaired by Court of Appeal Justice Irene Mulyagonja, was held with no journalists allowed.

Besigye and Lutale, who were abducted in Nairobi, Kenya in November and returned to Uganda, face charges related to security and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.

Their lawyer Martha Wangari Karua is a Kenyan politician and former long-standing Member of Parliament for Gichugu Constituency and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She was Minister for Justice until resigning from that position in April 2009.