A  recent  mapping  exercise  indicated  that  Uganda  lags  far  behind  t o  comparator  countries such as  India  and  South  Africa  on  the  provision  of  legal  aid.  For  instance,  despite  the  Constitutional guarantee of equality before the law, in Article 21, Government is yet to develop and implement a legal  aid  policy.  In  South  Africa,  government  makes  available  legal  representation  to  indigent persons at State  expense through  the  Legal Aid Board established under the Legal Aid Act. India created a National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) under the Legal Services Authorities Act to lay down  policies  and  principles  for  making  legal  services  available  through  schemes  deemed  to  be most  effective  and  economical.  NALSA  disburses  funds  and  grants  to  State  Legal  Services Authorities and NGOs for implementing legal aid schemes and programmes.

The  Mapping  Report  indicates  that  Government  has  not  engaged  fully  in  delivering  legal  aid.  Its services so far stop at providing legal aid to persons charged with serious criminal offences, under Article  128.  There  is  however  a  JLOS  legal  aid  task  force  indicating  future  opportunities  to  be explored in the medium term. Government departments that have initiated related services such as the Police’s Child and Family Protection Unit have demonstrated the demand for the service since such units are regularly overwhelmed by clients seeking a wide range of services associated with legal aid (Mapping Report, 2009). As is often the case when Government does not fully involve itself in a service, Civil Society comes in, first to articulate the existing problem, and second to sell it to government for an enabling law, third to get the governmen t to provide resources. LASPNET as a group of organisations offering free legal aid services recognised the gap in  “access to justice” in 2000. It formed itself into a loose network which has since been struggling to define what it is
and to draw up a formal plan of action that  gives  it  a sound basis for  working with the government in the process of providing justice to  vulnerable, indigent, and marginalised persons in Ugand