Residents of Uasin Gishu seeking legal representation from advocates from different law firms across the country are now enlightened on the right mechanism to access better services in regards to access to justice. This is after the Advocates’ Complaints Commission (ACC) conducted a public sensitisation forum in Eldoret to educate members of the public to know their rights in the advocate-client relationship, on the steps required when lodging complaints to the commission’s disciplinary committee whenever one feels his advocate is not acting in line with the professional code of conduct when serving him among other key things. The members of the public were also taken through the nature of complaints handled by the commission like withholding money of the client by the advocate after the case has been ruled by the court and compensation is paid to the advocate who in turn pays the client less amount or at a time fails to pay completely. Other complaints include failing to account to the client on usage of his or her money, failing to report or inform the client on the status of his case, giving invalid cheques, delaying cases, overcharging the client, failing to appear in court during hearing among others. The citizens were educated on how to identify a suitable advocate for their cases by searching their particulars in the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) website search engine to determine whether the said advocates are active, inactive, suspended, struck off or dead. In an interview with KNA, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the ACC, Mr George Nyakundi said that they intend to sensitise Kenyans about the mandate of the Advocates’ Complaints Commission and on how to relate with the advocates. ‘The Advocates’ Complaints Commission is a department under the office of the Attorney General with a mandate to receive complaints of professional misconduct against advocates and upon the inquiry into the complains we try to bring the client and the advocate together to try to promote reconciliation and in the event that some of the cases are so serious to refer such complaints to the Advocates disciplinary committee for purposes of discipline or sanctions to those advocates,’ he said. The CEO pointed out that the reason why they are going around the country is that the complaints commission is only based in Nairobi and yet all Kenyans require the services of the commission and there was need to inform them about the commission’s services in particular and how to lodge the complaints in order to inspire greater public confidence in the legal profession and promote provision of efficient and effective services in the handling of complaints of professional misconduct against advocates. He indicated that citizens can easily access the complaints report form from the commission’s website www.acc.go.ke fill it, sign and email it back to the commission via email acc@ag.go.ke Upon receiving the complaint, the commission reviews it, evaluates and proceeds further to either charge an advocate or reconcile the client with the advocate through the In-house Dispute Resolution (IHDR). He further noted that the citizens can alternatively seek guidance from the nearby Office of the Attorney General on how to launch complaints. Mr Nyakundi affirmed that the commission has received many complaints from the members of the public, most cases being on advocates withholding money from clients. ‘In the last financial year 2021/2022, we received about 1003 complaints against advocates. On average about 84 complaints every month. Between July 2022 and March 2023 we have received about 670 complaints,’ he said. ‘For those complaints we have resolved a good number, like last year we resolved about 670 either by rejecting those which are not under our mandate and forwarding others to the commissions disciplinary committee for action,’ said Mr. Nyakundi. He said the IHDR which is a form the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the commission has yielded a lot of success in settling disputes which has helped clients get back their money and documents which were withheld by advocates. ‘Last year we submitted challenges to complaints against advocates withholding money from the clients and in the process, we got about Sh 23 billion paid out by the advocates who had withheld it unjustifiably,’ he said. ‘We also had clients whose advocates had withheld some of their documents like title deeds or files and we resolved these complaints, those are some of the successes for the commission,’ he added. Additionally, between July last year to March this year the commission subjugated about 242 complaints to IHDR and has received about Sh5 billion so far and is still following up on some of the payments. For serious cases in the last financial year 2021/2022, the commission filed 212 fresh charges against advocates in the advisory committee and this year 114 charges out of which the advocates were either suspended, fined, or abolished. Among the suspended, 5 advocates were struck off the advocacy and 3 suspended. By March this financial year, 5 advocates were suspended and 2 struck off the roll of advocacy. In his remarks, Uasin Gishu County Commissioner Dr Eddyson Nyale lauded the commission’s move to sensitise the members of the public across the country noting that it will help enlighten citizens in terms of accessing proficient legal services whenever they are not satisfied with the manner in which their advocates serve them in various cases like land, accidents and others.
Source: Kenya News Agency