{Minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye held a coordination meeting for all Government legal Officers and legal advisors, where he urges them to avoid resorting to litigation against Government as much as possible in order to save the national budget.}
This meeting was held on Monday 11th August 2014 with the aim of discussing on compliance with the provisions of Ministerial instructions setting up modalities for drafting, negotiating, requesting for opinions, signing and managing contracts published in the Official Gazette in may 2014. Participants looked at standard model contracts and they also discussed on the challenges met by legal officers and legal advisors in fulfilling their responsibilities and how they could avoid litigation against Government.
While opening the meeting, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General urged all Government legal officers and legal advisors to draft or review where possible the contracts to be proposed to the other party and to always follow model contracts. He also recommended them to seek Legal Opinion and Advice in the course of execution of a contract whenever circumstances likely to give rise to dispute arise.
Furthermore, they were advised to keep record of signed contracts including the legal opinion they provided, authorising the signature of the contracts and to ensure the office of AG is provided with a copy of contracts and agreements for which a Legal Opinion has been provided.
Minister Busingye Johnston demands all Government legal officers and legal advisors to avoid resorting to litigation as much as possible. He said “in case of litigation, ensure the Government is prepared enough to plead the case in court, particularly, remember that “summons” are not to be treated as ordinary correspondence: it is always “URGENT”.
He added “litigation is caused by failure to detect actions, situations, omissions that might cause it, so prevent those causes, mitigate the effects and resolve the issue as soon as possible, before loss or damage starts piling. If this is respected, Government will no longer be involved in a court case.”
During the media brief, Minister Busingye said that occurring problems of delaying the payment t o entrepreneurs who have carried out the works to public institutions as well as delaying the payment of expropriation fees, will be given much interest as they are deemed to be on top of problems which involve the Government into courts.
“Expropriation process for public interest will be carried out after the payment to concerned people” Minister added.
The meeting drew up the following recommendations:
The Ministerial Instructions Nº 612/06.11 of 16/04/2014 on Drafting and management of Government contracts, published on the Official Gazette Nº 18 of 05/05/2014 should be sent officially to all Government Institutions to make them known to all Government Officials instead of being known to lawyers only.
1. Legal Advisers in all Government Institutions and organs should share information and advise their leaders that they should always seek legal opinion before taking decisions that may end up dragging Government in Courts.
2. Participants committed to achieving “Zero Litigation” except when it’s “Acts of God”.
3. Legal Advisers should be drafters of contracts in their institutions and avoid drafts presented by Clients
4. Legal officers/legal advisors should report to the Attorney General through their superiors
5. Legal Officers must keep records of signed contracts and legal opinion they provided
6. Legal officers must be part of the process in case of litigation
7. Legal officers must find a way to inform the Attorney General on time when there is any default likely to give rise to litigation
8. Legal opinion has to be sought on time
9. Legal Advisers should lead and try transaction where possible before resorting to court for litigation.
deus@igihe.com
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