BY HAROLD AYODO
Lawyers from the region can now offer professional services with ease in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Zanzibar. This follows the drafting of a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) that seeks to allow cross border legal practice in East Africa.
The outgoing East Africa Law Society (EALS) President James Aggrey Mwamu said that the document will be ratified by members before getting a nod from regional Governments.
The MRA follows consensus by the Law Society of Kenya, Tanganyika Law Society, Uganda Law Society, Burundi Bar Association, Rwanda Bar Association and Zanzibar Law Society.
Mwamu said that the MRA will kick start cross border legal practice in line with the East African Community Protocol. “The Agreement is to fast track the offering of legal services within the region before the East Africa Legal Assembly (EALA) debates on the Cross Border Legal Practice Bill,” Mr. Mwamu said.
Mwamu was speaking during the EALS Annual General Meeting at the Serena Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda last month.
Lawyers from the region passed a resolution that the MRA be deliberated upon before implementation at an AGM scheduled for Zanzibar next year.
“Bar Associations from the region should circulate the MRA to lawyers within 15 days to give their comments within 30 days before tabling in the next AGM in Zanzibar,” Mr. Mwamu said.
The LSK Chairman Eric Mutua confirmed that LSK was part of the process in negotiating the process of the MRA. “The MRA will make it easier for lawyers within the EAC to get a Practicing Certificates to offer legal services across the borders,” Mr. Mutua said.
Mutua said that regional Bar Associations (law societies) held a meeting in Dar E Salaam, Tanzania and unanimously resolved to circulate the MRA to members.
Meanwhile, LSK Council Member Godfrey Nathan Kitiwa is the new East Africa Law Society (EALS) Secretary General. The immediate former LSK Kisumu Branch Chairman Charles Onyango is also the new Deputy Treasurer while lawyer Harriet Chiggai a Council member of this regional lawyers’ body.
The trio was elected during hotly contested regional elections in Kigali, Rwanda on Saturday that attracted lawyers from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Zanzibar.
The regional polls were held at the Serena Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda last month during the EALS Annual General Meeting (AGM).
“I am happy to be elected SG of the EALS and I shall ensure that our objectives are met … Lawyers must lead from the front and ensure that constitutions and the Rule of Law are upheld towards democracy and stability,” Mr. Kitiwa said.
Nasur Hamisi from Zanzibar also took over the EALS Presidency from LSK Council Member James Aggrey Mwamu who completed his successful two-year term.
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