Lawyers for opposition leader Kizza Besigye led by Kenyan counsel Martha Karua and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago gather outside the General Court Martial in Makindye, Uganda on December 2, 2024. Ms Karua was denied a licence to practise law in Uganda.
The simmering conflict between the Uganda Law Council and the Law Society of Kenya over the former’s denial of a temporary certificate of practice to allow Senior Counsel Martha Karua to represent her client in Uganda, opposition leader Kizza Besigye, exposes the soft underbelly of the East African Community and the potential fault lines that could once again scuttle the regional integration project.
Ms Karua had applied to practise in Uganda after retired colonel and political figure Besigye appointed her to lead his defence against charges of illegal possession of firearms that he is facing alongside a colleague, Hajji Obeid Lutale, before the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Court Martial.
