Dar es Salaam. The question that currently lingers on the minds of Tanzanians is on the fate of former Tanganyika Law Society ( TLS) president Fatma Karume after the High Court of Tanzania overturned the decision of the Advocate Ethics Committee that banned her from practicing on Mainland Tanzania.
A bone of the contention is rooted in the fact that the High Court has ordered the registrar to refer the complaints to the same committee that had taken Ms Karume to task.
For his part, Seka and Associates Advocates’ counsel John Seka noted that the committee will be made of the same composition.
This is because that is the only committee available and its composition is usually fixed unless the Chief Justice decides to determine a different bench.
The question on debate is whether there will be a fair trial considering the fact that the Attorney General (AG) is part of the deciding committee through his representative, who is his deputy.
However, Mr Seka said if there was any indication that he was conflicted, then the AG could decide to opt out.
Asked on what if he chose not to opt out, would it lead to a fair trial, he explained: “that is for the court to decide whether that is impacted because the decision is usually done by lawyer voting.”
“It is early to say whether it will lead to a fair retrial,” he explained.
On who is to decide on whether the AG has to be part of the committee, Advocate Seka said it all depended on who was going to raise the objection.
Based on that grounds, the chairperson, who is the judge of the High Court may decide. The court’s ruling in favour of Ms Karume gives her the opportunity to defend herself after she was on September 24 permanently removed from the register of advocates.
On September 20, 2020, the Advocates Ethics Committee suspended Ms Fatma Karume from practising law in the Mainland over the remarks she made in her submission in a case challenging the appointment of Prof Adelardus Kilangi as Attorney General (AG) of Tanzania.
The committee then claimed to have found Ms Karume guilty of gross misconduct and ordered that her name removed from the list of lawyers in Tanganyika.
Ms Fatma Karume was the lawyer in a case filed by Mr Ado Shaibu, then ACT-Wazalendo’s ideology, publicity and public communications secretary and the respondent was President John Magufuli, who died of a heart condition on March 17, this year.
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