Legal Aid Centre of Eldoret, Kenya: Public Health and Social Justice Issues

The Legal Aide Centre of Eldoret (LACE) offers free legal aid services to the poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable affected by public health issues including HIV in western Kenya. The Kenyan attorneys of LACE represent clients whom would otherwise have no access to social justice. LACE works closely with the Academic Model Providing Access to Health (AMPATH), the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated public health and poverty program staffed and supported by Indiana University School of Medicine, USAID and Moi University. The AMPATH program provides access to medical care through hospitals and clinics, education, medication, food, shelter provisions (including mattresses, blankets, soap, clothes and mosquito nets), psychosocial support, microloans and employment. The AMPATH program refers clients to LACE for legal representation. LACE clients face social justice issues including family disputes, child maintenance, criminal justice matters, gender based violence, discrimination, human rights violations and estate disputes. LACE assists clients in obtaining child support or maintenance when a parent fails to provide support for a child. LACE provides legal services in criminal cases. LACE advocates for crime victims by obtaining evidence and prodding prosecutors not to dismiss charges. LACE secures dismissal of ungrounded criminal accusations and false arrests. Greedy in-laws force some LACE clients from their homes after a spouse dies. LACE provides representation in succession or estate cases allowing the client to claim their legal share of the property. In these areas of law, Kenyans have rights on paper yet no hope of enforcing those rights without the legal representation provided by LACE.