For lawyers in the East African Community (EAC) to effectively play their role in the integration process, there is need to harmonise legal education, practice, standards and elimination of any barriers to the free movement of professional legal services within the region.

This was said by the Chief Justice, Prof. Sam Rugege, during the annual East Africa Law Society conference over the weekend in Kigali.

The conference was held under the theme; "Advancing the legal profession in East Africa: Trends and patterns”.

Rugege said there was need for political commitment and partnership among professionals of partner states to make operational the free movement of labour and services, including legal professionals.

"For all this to succeed, partnership amongst the legal professionals and genuine political commitment by the EAC partner states to operationalise the free movement of professional services is imperative. We hope all the partner states will perform their role,” Rugege said.

He said it is through this that the lawyers could, together, play a part in protecting their nations in the face of external interference or propaganda.

He called upon the legal fraternity to always acknowledge the unique values, culture and challenges of the continent and the region while going about their duties lest it be regarded as irrelevant.

"This also means that wherever possible we must try to keep the settlement of disputes that affect us as East Africans and Africans in Africa,” the Chief Justice said.

Rugege’s sentiments were echoed by Njenga Mwangi of Njenga Mwangi Wachira and Partners, a Kenyan member of the regional society, who said that there is no need for cases concerning East Africans to be referred to international courts.

He cited an example of the case against the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, which was referred to the International Criminal Court before being tried in the country or regionally.

Mwangi said there was no reason to have such cases tried abroad while there was adequate capacity to try them locally.

"Courts like the ICC should be complementary not only to the national courts but also to the regional courts. This means that any crimes committed in the region or on the continent should first be tried in the territory they were committed before referral,” he said.

Mwangi told The New Times that that would help curb a trend where East African lawyers have the least contribution to these cases when they are referred to international courts like ICC.

"There is no question about the ability and capacity of East Africa Law society members in handling such cases.”

This year’s annual conference, initially scheduled to be held in Zanzibar, was moved to Kigali to coincide with Rwanda’s commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.