Gloria Wanyenze was the best student in Trial Advocacy in the June 2021 LDC graduation. Courtesy photo.
By Jimmy Siyasa Best Student in Trial Advocacy, read the accolade that Gloria Wanyenze took home on June 6, 2021. Wanyenze hit the target of excellence.
Wanyenze had graduated from Uganda’s Law Development Centre (LDC), with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. To practice law in Uganda, lawyers must obtain a Diploma in Legal Practice from LDC after the law degree. What was even more special for Wanyenze was that she was part of a student cohort whose members had gritted their teeth and made it through bruising final exams that had a 90% failure rate.
Frank Nigel Othembi, the LDC director, attributed the high failure rate to student newness to on-line study during the Covid-19 lockdown.
However, he also attributed lack of academic success to the abolition of pre-entry examinations into the centre. Previously, LDC had been conducting pre-entry exams for students who want to pursue the Diploma in Legal Practice, which was not the case with Wanyenze’s class.
And the level of pride that Wanyenze has earned her family, to her, is higher than the accolade she walked home with from LDC.
“I am the first LLB (Bachelor of Laws degree) graduate in my family,” Wanyenze, who graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree at Uganda Christian University in 2019, remarks.
She says from the day she informed her family that she wanted to pursue a degree in law, they were supportive.
“My family encouraged me, guided me and pointed out the areas I needed to be strong in, as well as the areas where I needed growth,” she says, adding: “They supported my decision to study at UCU and funded that choice.”
Wanyenze has always wanted to be identified as a problem-solver. It is an element that gave her an edge in Trial Advocacy, the course unit in which she topped her class. In Trial Advocacy, one learns the skills necessary to make a case for those they represent. It happened that the tests for that particular course unit coincided with another field of law that Wanyeze is passionate about – Corporate Law.
She believes UCU had a hand in her exceptional performance at the LDC.
“UCU goes beyond teaching law – or any other profession,” she said. “It adds ethics and a Christian approach to every course of study that not only makes us more well-rounded, but also diligent.”
She says the university instilled in her the requisite skills, helped to trigger the virtue of integrity in her, as well as enhanced her Christian leadership skills.
Wanyenze also attributes her excellence to diligence and commitment.
“When you are at LDC, there are days you are amazed at your capability and there are days you are questioning it,” she says, adding: “But what will make the difference is your ability to put in the effort required.”
She says she also ensured she belonged to a discussion group, where they would take turns to talk about cases.
Now that she has qualified to practice law in Uganda, Wanyenze awaits the Uganda Law Council to enroll her as an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda so she can represent clients in court. As she waits to be enrolled, Wanyenze will concentrate on her role as a Legal Assistant at Crystal Advocates, a law firm in Kampala.
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Students carry food packs donated by the UCU Chaplaincy.
By Yasiri J. Kasango The office of the chaplain at Uganda Christian University (UCU) recently donated food to students that the latest government-order covid lockdown has stranded in hostels around the institution.
Each student received a food pack containing beans, sugar, maize flour, salt and soap. A pack was valued at sh23,000 (about $6.5).
“When we got a report about students who are stranded in hostels and in need of food, the chapel council raised some money to help them out,” the chaplain, the Rev. Eng. Paul Wasswa, said.
Uganda on June 7 closed all schools and institutions of higher learning following increase in the positivity rate among the Covid-19 tests that were being done. Uganda is currently in the second wave of Covid-19.
Two weeks later, the country’s President, Yoweri Museveni, announced a 42-day lockdown, banning the movement of vehicles. Only vehicles belonging to categories of people government considered essential workers, such as the media, medical personnel, workers at construction sites and in factories, and trucks delivering goods, among others, were issued with travel permits.
The development meant that the students who were caught up in hostels had to stay there until the lockdown terminates at the end of July. However, in mid-July, it was not yet clear whether government will lift the lockdown after the 42 days. Government has said the positivity rate in the Covid-19 tests dropped from 18% when the lockdown was instituted to 10% a month later.
For the donation that was handed to the students, the chapel council raised sh1m (about $280) towards purchasing the food items. A total of 54 students benefitted from the generosity. The beneficiaries were identified by the UCU deputy guild minister for religious affairs, the Rev. Benson Amanya.
A recent UCU guild government survey indicated that there are at least 200 national and international students stranded in hostels.
Amanya said the needy students were identified through the coordination of class representatives.
“When a class representative recommends a needy student, we interrogate them about the student. Their response would help to identify whether the student was actually in need of food,” Amanya said.
“I am grateful for the support rendered to us,” Edith Joseph from South Sudan said. “We are going through a hard time in the hostels.”
David Kisakye, a final-year student pursuing the Bachelor of Laws at UCU, commended the chaplain’s office for the initiative. “Receiving some food, although little, is better than nothing,” he said.
The Rev. Wasswa acknowledged that the food relief given to students could not sustain them until the end of the lockdown and, therefore, called upon other well-wishers to donate more food to the students. He also asked students who may be in need of counselling to approach his office.
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Honors College Student Chemutai Syndia with some of the pupils of Bishop West Primary School where she conducted her project
By Eriah Lule and Jimmy Siyasa Christian mentorship. Leadership. Academic research. These are the three core goals that define Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) Honors College. The 19-year-old college, whose concept is borrowed from the Dutch and American universities, admits only the institution’s crème de la crème students from the different faculties.
Applicants must have at least a 4.0 Cumulative Grade-Point Average (CGPA) out of 5.0 to be enrolled to the college that offers talented students the opportunity to tap on their mettle through an extra certificate-program, alongside the regular bachelor’s degree course.
The college, which is the brainchild of Prof. Stephen Noll, UCU’s first Vice-Chancellor, offers a multidisciplinary approach to scientific and social issues, which helps to enrich students’ projects and research.
Pamela Tumwebaze, newly appointed head of Honors College
Pamela Tumwebaze, the new head of the college, has hit the ground running, by grouping
students based on their interests, using invited guest lecturers and mentors to speak to the students and holding weekly workshops. Before her promotion to head the Honors College, Tumwebaze was the Executive Secretary of the UCU Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academics.
“I want to utilize the full potential of our students, by encouraging them to create solutions for the social problems that people face, through research,” she said, noting that it is such initiatives that will “lift the college to greater heights.”
Juan Emmanuella Zamba, a student of Bachelor of Human Rights, Peace and Humanitarian Intervention, has designed a project called Trash into Cash, which she hopes will be able to solve the challenge of high youth unemployment. Zamba collects inorganic waste, such as plastic and paper, which she uses to make jewelry and wall hangings.
“Honors College has enabled me to explore my potential and capabilities, through mentorship provided by the guest lecturers and our college staff,’’ Zamba said, adding: “I am now thinking of making my project a real business, so that I create employment to the youth, as well as skilling them.”
Thanks to the Honors College, Chemutai Syndia, a 21-year-old fourth-year student of Bachelor of Laws, is currently working to combat sexual violence against children through advocacy. At Bishop West Primary School, located near UCU, Chemutai counsels children and also sensitizes them on the avenues through which they can report child-rights offenders. She also takes advantage of the opportunity to sensitise the teachers about the benefits of creating a favourable environment for their pupils, to share their challenges.
Members of a group project called Share a Skill, spearheaded by Miriam Obetia, a second-year student of Bachelor of Human Rights, Peace and Humanitarian Intervention, went to West Nile early this year, where they engaged children, especially who had dropped out of school during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, in entrepreneurial skills.
Tumwebaze believes her tenure of service is a God-given opportunity to boost UCU’s undergraduate research and she has already started on this by making calls for proposals for projects from students. She believes her ultimate reward will be when students succeed by making a career out of the projects they will have championed.
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The Rev. Liberty Muhereza, who has degrees in law and divinity from UCU, receives an award from the Uganda Police in recognition of ALARM’s contribution towards the improvement of the force. Courtesy photo.
By Eriah Lule Muhereza means “servant leader” in various parts of Uganda. According to Forebears, the world’s largest database of name meanings and distributions, more than 14,000 Ugandans are called Muhereza. One alumnus of Uganda Christian University (UCU) is among them, and appropriately so as he serves as a social justice leader for communities.
The civil rights activism of the Rev. Liberty Muhereza led him to write a training module focused on civil rights ideals to be imparted into society. When he shared his curriculum with leadership of the Uganda Police Force, they did not hesitate to take it up. Today, the module that Muhereza developed is part of the curriculum that is taught to trainees in police academies in Uganda.
Rev. Liberty Muhereza with his family. Photo/ Eriah Lule
“Since childhood, I have always dreamt of a world where there is equity and social justice,” Muhereza says.
It is this dream that even after completing his law degree course, the 38-year-old opted to work with civil society organisations, where he thought he would make more impact than setting up a law firm. He studied a Bachelor of Laws course at UCU, after which he pursued a Diploma in Legal Practice at Uganda’s Law Development Centre.
Muhereza is the Country Director of the African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM), a not-for-profit organisation that deals with conflict resolution, servant leadership development, social justice and reconciliation, as well as community transformation. ALARM, a Christian organization that was birthed in 1996, is based in Ntinda, a suburb of Kampala.
The organization operates in six countries in the Great Lakes region: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda, where it started in 2002.
Muhereza, a father of two, started working with ALARM when he completed his Diploma in Legal Practice course. He joined the organisation as its head of the peace and justice department. It is while heading the peace department that Muhereza developed a module on social justice that was eventually integrated into the curriculum of the Uganda Police Force.
Police officers being one of the major enforcers of social justice, Muhereza explains, ALARM found it necessary to train them in servant leadership development, peace, justice and reconciliation. He said they also mentor a section of lawyers under the Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity.
As a Country Director, he has created partnerships with Civil Society Organizations, Government agencies and many churches in Uganda to train pastors or church leaders. Muhereza says they have held sessions with leaders in the Church of Uganda, the Roman Catholic Church and the Pentecostal churches.
To champion their goal of fostering peace and reconciliation, the organisation set up a vocational school, the ALARM Technical Institute in Pader district, in northern Uganda, to equip former child soldiers, wives of soldiers and illiterate teenagers with self-sustenance skills. Northern Uganda was a hotspot of a two-decade civil war, from 1986, with the atrocities of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels forcing communities into internally displaced people’s camps.
At the technical institute, Muhereza says: “The youth are empowered with skills like carpentry, computer literacy, building and concrete practice, electrical installation and many more, in order to establish a job-creating generation rather than a job-seeking one.” He is the institute’s board chairperson.
Muhereza resigned from his job as the head of the Peace and Justice Department at ALARM in 2015 to pursue the Master of Divinity course at UCU. Upon completion, he joined All Saints Cathedral Nakasero, as part of its clergy. However, due to his exceptional service at ALARM, it did not take long for the organisation to call him back, this time as its Country Director, a position he holds to date.
“Attending UCU ignited my Christian values and leadership skills,” says Muhereza, who was a fellowship leader, choir master and was also involved in various ministries as a student at UCU.
Currently, Muhereza is a board member of Hope Children’s home, a not-for-profit that looks after underprivileged children. He also is the general secretary of the Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity, and the board chairperson of Fashion and Compassion, an organization that empowers women with skills for economic development.
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Some new UCU Deans and Heads of Departments present for announcement at a May 2021 function at the Hamu Mukasa University Library. Photo/ Israel Kisakye
By Jimmy Siyasa The Uganda Christian University has announced a change of the guard within its faculties and departments.
The announcement was made by the university’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, the Rev. Dr. John Kitayimbwa, during the farewell for some of the outgoing leaders and the unveiling of the new guard. The ceremony took place on May 10 in the Learning Commons Room, located at the Hamu Mukasa University Library.
The Rev. Dr. John Kitayimbwa unveils a list of some new deans and heads of departments. Photo/ Israel Kisakye
“Covid-19 has shifted the demands,” UCU Vice Chancellor Associate Professor Aaron Mushengyezi said as he urged the new leaders to be creative in their work. “And so, as we come in to lead, please take note, you are not going to lead with the ordinary tools your predecessors have led with. You will require new tools because wholly duplicating what your predecessors did, may not work.”
Due to the “new normal” presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, Mushengyezi said all programs will have a digital equivalent.
“Covid-19 has changed the academic landscape,” he said. “And so, one of the main tasks for you is to pioneer and continue to consolidate e-learning.”
The university’s council chairperson, the Rt. Rev. Can. Prof. Alfred Olwa, congratulated the new leaders and thanked the outgoing for their dedication and hard work.
The newly appointed Head of the Department of Literature and Languages, Dr. James Tabu Busimba, was delighted by his new role at UCU. Busimba recently retired from a public university, Makerere, after clocking 60 years.
“I think serving in an institution that has one of its core values as Christ-centeredness is such a golden opportunity,” Busimba said. “I am grateful to God.”
According to the Rev. Dr. John Kitayimbwa, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, who unveiled the new team, the UCU Statute for Appointment of deans and heads of departments mandates that the appointments are ratified by the University Senate and then submitted to the institution’s human resource board for consideration.
Comments from some of the leaders “To me, serving in Uganda Christian University is building the kingdom of God,” Professor Martin Lwanga, former Dean, School of Business, said. “It is a privilege, and some of us are still available to serve at this great institution.”
Eriah Nsubuga, the Head of the Fine Arts Department, said: “It is unusual times. But an opportunity for us to reengineer how we do things. And one thing I like about UCU is that they care for their staff.”
“This year, we are changing direction as a university,” said Prof. Kukunda Elizabeth Bacwayo, the dean of the School of Research and Post Graduate Studies. “We shall provide a bigger amount of funding to professors, to lead various teams of researchers.”
The changes that were announced in May 2021
Faculty/ Department
New Head of Department
Predecessor
School of Research and Post-Graduate Studies
Dr. Emilly Comfort Maractho (Now the Director- UCU Africa Policy Center) Also Head of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, until contract expires on 31 May 2021
Reverend Professor Lawrence Adams
Faculty of Social Sciences
Mr. Kasule Kibirige Solomon
Department of Social Work and Social Administration.
(Expired contract )
Contract renewed
Faculty of Education and Arts
Department of Languages and Literature
Dr. James Taabu Busimba
Mr. Peter Mugume
Honors College
Ms. Pamela Tumwebaze
Reverend Abel Kibedi
Department of Art and Design
Dr. Eriah Nsubuga
Dr. Joel Masagazi
Department of Education
Dr. Mary Kagoire
School of Business
Department of Management and Entrepreneurship
Mr. Martin Kabanda
Mrs. Elsie Mirembe Nsiyona
Faculty of Health Sciences
Department of Public Health
Dr. Edward Mukooza
Dr. Ekiria Kikule
ASSOCIATE DEAN APPOINTMENTS
Faculty
New Dean
Predecessor
Faculty of Social Sciences
Rev. Dr. Andrew David Omona
Prof. MarySsonko Nabachwa
School of Business
Mr. Vincent Kisenyi
Assoc. Professor Martin Lwanga
School of Medicine
Dr. Gerald Tumusiime
Has been acting Dean, but now is the substantive Dean
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UCU students of Bachelor of Governance on a study trip to Sipi Falls that was coordinated by Ecstacy Ventures Tourism and Travel
By Gloria Katya The ultimate goal of many students who pursue a course in law in Uganda is to join legal practice. However, for Joackim Mumbere, the story was different.
After spending four years at Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) Law School, the 26-year-old did not proceed to the Law Development Centre to pursue a diploma in legal practice, which would enable him become an advocate.
CEO of Ecstasy Ventures, Joackim Mumbere, with Miss Tourism Eastern Uganda at Sipi Falls
Mumbere instead opted to venture into tourism. While a student at UCU, Mumbere started a tour and travel company. He realized that tourism was a lucrative venture when he joined the Rotaract Club of UCU in 2014. As the chairperson of the club, he was put in charge of organizing trips, dinners and picnics for club members.
The experience Mumbere garnered from organizing such events soon changed his career path.
In his second year, Mumbere started a tourism and travel company called Ecstasy Ventures. Mostly on weekends, he promoted and conducted business of the company.
In 2018, following his graduation with a bachelor of laws from UCU, Mumbere returned to his company, as his colleagues hit the streets to search for jobs.
With him in the steering of the business, it expanded its clientele rapidly. Mumbere organized dozens of trips, weddings, parties, graduation parties and boat cruises for clients.
“I also worked with many corporate companies, such as Jumia and banks, and my network grew,” he says. He credits the rate of expansion of his business to the special services that he says he offered.
“My company organizes movies, campfires and celebrates birthday parties during the trips.”
Mumbere earns between sh500,000 (about $136) and sh1,00,000 (about $272) per trip he organizes.
“I organize two-three trips every month, but my dream is to double the number,” he said.
Mumbere’s company is online, but his dream is to secure physical space (offices) for it soon.
Studying law has helped Mumbere to realize the importance of documenting every transaction with clients, so that people don’t cheat him.
“With my law background, I am not easily intimidated by certain classes of customers because I know what the law requires,” he said.
Mumbere’s dream in the next five years is to grow the company so that it can acquire more assets, travel cars, land and at least a lodge in one of the national game parks. He urges students to embrace academics, as well as their talents.
“UCU has a lot of co-curricular activities that can make students successful in life, if well exploited,” he said.
Mumbere says his parents – David and Teopista Mayanja of Kasese district in western Uganda – are proud of his business acumen. Mumbere’s law lecturer at UCU, Samson Wanambuko, says he is not surprised by what his former student has achieved.
“He was a good, inquisitive student who used to participate in class, and was always eager to learn. He is very intelligent,” Wanambuko said.
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ASP Beyanga Cornelius poses in his police official uniform at one of the events at Naguru Police Headquarters. Photo by Police Media Team
By Lule Eriah
When Cornelius Beyanga was completing his Bachelor of Laws course at Uganda Christian University (UCU), he attended a talk during the institution’s Career Week. The presentation facilitator, then Uganda’s head of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, made a case for why it was beneficial for graduates to join the Police force. He made specific reference to a need for recruits with legal knowledge.
Having had a background of family members serving in the armed forces, Beyanga already saw working in the police or military forces as one professional option. Beyanga had three uncles who were serving in the military. The magnetic pull toward that work was made stronger during the career week talk.
When he completed school, Beyanga enrolled into the Police. And he was not alone with his legal background.
ASP Beyanga conducts a workshop in one of the Uganda police academies in the country early this year.
“During our entry into Police in 2014, we were 47 lawyers who joined,” Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Beyanga, a UCU 2011 Bachelor of Laws graduate, recalled. “I thank UCU for the Career Week that it organized. It is because of those career talks that I am what you see.”
He currently works in the Directorate of Human Rights and Legal Services of the Uganda Police, where he sits on a panel of six prosecutors of a Police tribunal. The tribunal was established as an internal mechanism for trying errant Police officers and guiding the Police disciplinary process. Beyanga’s work includes orientation of new recruits on the Police ethical codes of conduct in Police academies all over the country.
Before his current position in the Police, which he assumed in 2018, Beyanga was the deputy officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in Lwengo, a district in central Uganda. He also served as the Officer in Charge of Lamwo district in northern Uganda, from 2016-2017.
Dr. Anthony Kakooza, a former dean of the Faculty of Law, said: “I am pleased to see my students prosper in different fields. This encourages me to share knowledge more and enforce discipline in order to develop our nation.”
Edith Kamakune, the outgoing speaker of the UCU Alumni Association and Beyanga’s former classmate, is not surprised by achievements in the Police. “Our class was full of serious people. No wonder, Beyanga is in the Police to fight for the oppressed as he used to say,” she added.
When he rests his gun, Beyanga’s other hand picks up a hoe. He owns an agro-produce company called Cousin Factor Uganda Limited, established in Mbarara, western Uganda. This produces coffee, bananas and also deals in livestock farming.
“I am working hard to become one of the remarkable farmers in the country,” Beyanga, who hopes to make a demonstration, says. The father of two children, he is married to an alumna of UCU.
He hopes his colleagues in the forces can borrow a leaf out of his entrepreneurial endeavors, so that they diversify their sources of income while making a positive impact in various careers.
To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org
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Wabuyele with her declaration forms after being declared winner. Photo by Lule Eriah.
By Lule Eriah
Before January 2021, the closest Mary Immaculate Wabuyele had been to politics was campaigning for other candidates.
In 2018, she was the campaign manager of Joshua Wanambwa, who was contesting for the position of Uganda Christian University (UCU) guild president. Wanambwa lost in that election. The following year, guild presidential candidate Timothy Kadaga brought Wabuyele on board as his campaign manager. This time round, Wabuyele’s candidate won.
Wabuyele during the campaign. Courtesy photo.
When Wabuyele, a fourth-year student of law at UCU, declared her intentions of contesting herself in national politics last year, she took many by surprise. It was even more surprising that the novice emerged victorious over contenders two decades older than her. For the next five years, she will represent Goma division in Mukono as a councillor in the local council three. She assumes office in June this year.
In Uganda, councillors monitor performance of the civil servants in their jurisdiction, ensure compliance of government policies, approve budgets of the respective local government, as well as monitor provision of government services.
Wabuyele attributes her victory to the support from her friends and family. The tenacity of the 23-year-old could have been passed down from her mother, Lorna Wabwire, the sole provider her daughter’s tuition especially since the death of her husband in 2018.
“I don’t know the right way to explain how Mary has brought prestige to this home,” said an emotional Wabwire. “I can’t imagine that my girl represents all these people in the division.”
Wabuyele’s poster used during campaigns. Courtesy photo.
For a novice politician who only showed up to campaign twice a week due to the stringent academic schedule of the law school, one would understand the source of Wabwire’s emotion.
“I thank God that in spite of having less time to campaign, compared to my fellow contestants, the people of Goma still trusted me with their votes,” Wabuyele said. She contested on the National Unity Platform party ticket. Many candidates who contested on the same party ticket in central Uganda emerged victorious because of the party’s popularity in the area.
Her greatest challenge during the campaign trail was the language barrier. She was reaching out to not only the uneducated people, but also people with diverse dialects, the majority of whom do not understand English.
“Since I was young and educated, if I had tried to use English during the campaigns, it would be construed as a mockery of their illiteracy,” she said. “Besides, some were already indifferent about the fact that I am a young woman who aspired to lead them.” The two contenders who Wabuyele defeated were her mother’s age.
“I was very shocked when Mary told me she had joined national politics. In fact, till now, I am still shocked she won,” Carle Uwitingiyimana, a student pursuing a course in procurement and logistics, said. “I believe one day, she will become a Member of Parliament for the area.”
For now, Wabuyele has the uphill task of elevating her impoverished community by ensuring that the government services in the area reach the intended beneficiaries. Most of the residents are subsistence farmers.
“As a woman councillor, I want to lobby for my people from this society, so that I can inspire socio-economic development in the area,” Wabuyele said. Should she achieve this goal, voters may find it easy to give her another nod for an electoral office five years from now, if she chooses to contest.
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(NOTE: 2004 Uganda Christian University graduate and civil rights lawyer, Nicholas Opiyo, was imprisoned in Uganda for eight days, including Christmas 2020. The charges were related to fundraising of the human rights’ nonprofit organization, Chapter Four Uganda, where he serves as executive director. Without access to Opiyo until his release on December 30, this story was written largely with information from sources outside Opiyo. Once released, he posted on his Facebook page his response to his written/spoken support. That response is at the end of this story.)
By Douglas Olum
The mention of the name, Nicholas Opiyo, rings a bell of justice and the struggle for protection and defense of human rights among many Ugandans.
As Diana Muhanguzi puts in her Facebook post, “I [first] met Nicholas Opiyo in the year 2016 when he was representing my father in court for free and he managed to get for him bail.”
In the same vein, Bryan Ksg, a medical doctor writes, “During our internship three years ago, [the] Ministry of Health brought up a draconian policy of bonding Medical Interns into work without any compensation at respective hospitals. Imagine working 24 hours as an intern without food or even rent! Counsel Nicholas Opiyo offered zero cost legal services to medical interns and helped us secure a Court injunction to stop this policy.”
In the words of a renown Ugandan columnist and journalist, Daniel K. Kalinaki, “Few lawyers spend as much time hobnobbing with the police trying to find ‘disappeared’ people, helping folks post bail or just press back against the overreach of executive authority [as Nicholas Opiyo does].”
Nicholas Opiyo, right, interacts with his client, Dr. Stella Nyanzi, during one of her trials in 2019
Nicholas Opiyo, a 37-year-old, bespectacled Uganda Christian University graduate, is describedby his colleague, Robert Kirunda, as “tall, dark, gentle, soft spoken and deeply caring. Selfless to a fault, and loyal in every way. Deeply reflective and thoughtful in every task and time. Never to shy away from a fight and yet as carefully strategic and methodical.”
Opiyo is the Executive Director and Lead Attorney at Chapter Four Uganda, a civil rights charity. He is the recipient of German Africa Prize, 2017, UCU Law Society Alumni Human Rights Award, 2018, Voices for Justice Award from Human Rights Watch 2015 and the European Union Parliament Sakharov Fellows Prize in 2016. Until March of 2017, he was a member of the Team of Experts to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Peaceful Assembly and Association. He also is a visiting scholar at the Centre for African Studies, Stanford University, Calif., and the Global Health Program at the University of San Francisco (UCSF), California.
His work has over the years been characterized by a series of wins. But asked what the secret to his success was, he told The Independent Magazine journalist, Joan Akello, in a 2014 interview that, “I do not believe that there is any secret to my work except hard work, persistence and being able to take the walk along sometimes lonely legal roads. [But] I chase causes not a big cheque.”
Recently, Opiyo has represented the leading Uganda opposition politician and presidential candidate, Robert Sentamu Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine), the controversial Makerere University academic, Dr. Stella Nyanzi, and many others he believes have been unfairly and illegally arrested and detained. He has been in the forefront for condemning actions of security operatives who torture and abuse Ugandans.
On December 22, 2020, Nicholas Opiyo, alongside three other human rights advocates – Herbert Dakasi, Anthony Odur and Esomu Obure – was abducted by plain-clothes, armed men from a restaurant in Kamwokya, a suburb of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, where they went to have lunch. Until late evening of that day, police said they had no clue about the arrest and did not know the whereabouts of Opiyo and his colleagues. But with mounting pressure, they later revealed that the four were under their custody.
Opiyo was charged on December 24 with money laundering and remanded to Kitalya Prison, while his colleagues were released. Prosecution alleges that, in his capacity as the Director of Chapter Four Uganda, Opiyo, on October 8, received $340,000 through the organisation’s account, “knowing at the time of receipt that the said funds were proceeds of crime.”
Chapter Four Uganda denied the claim. The arrest and detention of Opiyo attracted criticism from diplomatic missions in the country, Civil Society Organisations and the legal fraternity.
Partners for Democracy and Governance, a coalition of 14 diplomatic missions in Uganda, including the US, UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the EU, among others, expressed concern over the arrest, saying that “Human rights defenders play an important role in every country and should be able to work without fear of arrest or reprisals, wherever they are.”
On Monday December 28, Opiyo re-appeared before a Kampala Magistrate via video conferencing from his detention facility, and he was further remanded until January 11. He, however, attained partial freedom on Wednesday, December 30, when High Court Judge, Jane Okuo Kajuga, who heard his bail application, granted him a Uganda sh15m ($4,104) cash bail.
Prior to his arrest, unknown people, suspected to be government security operatives, broke into Opiyo’s house and took his “laptop, phones, other electronics and several other items,” as his September 9 Twitter account states. Similar break-ins have been reported in various civil society offices in the recent years.
Chapter Four Uganda, posted on their Facebook Page, shortly after the arrest that at the time, that Opiyo was gathering evidence of the killing of more than 50 Ugandans in Kampala during a demonstration over the arrest of presidential hopeful, Robert Kyagulanyi around Mid-November.
As Daniel Kalinaki sums it up, “Officials whose capacity has been “built” under Western donor funding to the “Justice, Law and Order sector” go around hunting for people receiving money from abroad. The government is happy to beg and borrow… but will spear any citizen it finds in bed with the aforementioned partners…”
The first Facebook post from Nicholas Opiyo since his release expresses his appreciation for messages of support. In part, the post states: “I am teary reading all of your messages… Thank you so much. We will fight these baseless and malicious charges. One thing is clear; we will not be intimidated. I will continue to do my work and defend the rights of the vulnerable and marginalized in our society… I can only repay your faith and belief by fighting on and continuing the work we have been doing over the years. I am undaunted by this minor inconvenience, rather inspired by it.”
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To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org
International students from the United States, Nigeria and Rwanda
By Gloria Katya
Joining Uganda Christian University (UCU) in 2019, Garcia Bwale’s major challenge was the language barrier. Since she is from a French-speaking country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), she was not fluent in English. Contributing during class discussions was one of her major challenges.
International students pose for photo after a 2020 food gala at UCU
With the little English she knew, and spoken with a French accent, most of the Ugandan students found it funny whenever she raised her hand to contribute in class. This lowered her self-esteem.
“Whenever I was contributing in class, I noticed students laughing silently and the lecturers, too, found it hard to interpret what I was saying,” Bwale says.
However, from the UCU International students’ desk, Bwale discovered a solution. The desk provided her with a language mentor as she journeyed in her academics.
Once she solved the language issue, her fears were greatly diminished. She is now a confident journalist in the making who also has served as Minister on the International Students Association.
Another student, George Caleb from Nigeria and who is in his second year studying law, faced a similar obstacle. Interacting with locals especially when buying food and talking to transporters in case he had to move around had become a serious challenge for Caleb because he didn’t speak any of the Uganda local languages.
He, too, was helped by the International students’ desk to get Ugandan friends who gradually taught him survival skills.
“The desk linked me to some Ugandan students who helped me and life became easier,” he says.
The International students desk, headed by Mr. Edgar Kabahizi, was established in 2011 by the university management to help mainly with international students’ welfare. This desk serves students from the time they step in to the time they exit.
Usually a friendly and welcoming face, Kabahizi awaits to be of service to fresh international students from the time they arrive in Uganda for their studies at UCU.
“Studying away from one’s home country and family is always challenging and at times creates a lot of anxiety not knowing what to expect,” Kabahizi said. “Most times, it’s the local culture and language that is most perplexing for the foreigners so students need help.”
To simplify life for an international student, Kabahizi does a lot of things for them.
“I follow up on the students from the time they are admitted by the University until they are settled and begin to progress academically,” he says. “Students that face linguistic problems are incorporated in mentorship classes under the Uganda Studies Program where they learn English.”
Kabahizi’s office also makes sure that international students have the necessary paperwork that enables them access to living in the country.
“We are there, when the students are sick, struggling academically and when facing any challenge,” he said, “This office is their first reporting point.”
With 7% of the UCU student population from outside Uganda, the Director of Students Affairs Bridget Mugume K. Mugasira says the university created the desk to better serve those students. International students at UCU come from such countries as Nigeria, DRC, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and the USA.
When an international student arrives at UCU, he/she is led to their place of accommodation that is already organised for them by the International Students’ Desk. The students are then oriented the next day by introducing them to other international students. They are also given class timetables and briefed about the Ugandan currency and its exchange rate.
The students also are informed about the dos and don’ts in Uganda, Ugandan culture, and UCU norms.
“The International Students Desk is a serious relief to foreign students as it brings them together such that they don’t feel lonely on campus,” Kabahizi said.
International students are not left out in the different co-curricular activities on campus such as the cultural galas, food galas and politics. International students are engaged in many fun activities on campus including dinners, picnics, trips, food galas, celebrating their country’s days of Independence, among others. The students also are represented with the guild government.
“Our last trip last year with the International students was in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese and Bundibugyo before the Coronavirus pandemic struck,” Kabahizi said.
Covid-19 that has affected education across the globe has interfered with the desk, but UCU is not ready to compromise any of its services. Throughout the Covid-19 lockdown in Uganda, the University took full care of the international students without asking them for additional financial contributions.
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To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org.
Christopher Mogal Muchwa narrates his story at Sts. Phillip and Andrew’s Cathedral in Mukono
(NOTE: On May 4, Uganda President Museveni announced a 14-day extension of the lockdown measures. Adjustments from the previous order include that some businesses are allowed to operate and all persons must wear face coverings in public places. The ban on personal and public transport, as well as the curfew of 7 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. remain in effect at least through the middle of May. On May 7, there were 98 identified cases of the coronavirus in Uganda.)
By Douglas Olum
When Christopher Mogal Muchwa first heard about the COVID-19 outbreak in China from his Chinese friend, and the subsequent lockdown in Wuhan, the very city his friend lives in, he never thought the same would reach Uganda. And he certainly never thought he would delve into technology related to the virus.
“My Chinese friend told me that they were not allowed to move out,” Muchwa recalled. “And if they wanted to take evening walks, they would only walk through the corridors and stairs of their apartment buildings, then return to their rooms.”
That, Muchwa thought months ago,“was impossible” for the country of Uganda.
But on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, when Uganda’s president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, directed the closure of schools and banned all forms of social gatherings including church and political rallies, Muchwa realized he was wrong.
A third-year student of Bachelor of Laws at Uganda Christian University (UCU), an orphan and only child to his late parents, Muchwa did not rush to his home in Lira, northern Uganda, like other students did when the university was officially closed on Friday, March 20. Instead, he went to live with a friend to his late mother, Mary Achoma, who resides in Mukono.
“I did not see the need to return to Lira because I would be all by myself, “ Muchwa said.
He started preparing for the UCU planned take-home examinations but the Government of Uganda stopped these. Muchwa found himself with time to think more about the world pandemic, particularly as it related to Uganda. In a traditional attorney/lawyer way of thinking, he wondered what was true and what was false; he wondered if others could use some help in sorting out the facts.
That’s when he got the idea for developing a free access mobile application to help share authentic information about COVID-19 among Ugandans.
“I knew that all the [Government] Ministries had websites, but most people do not visit those,” Muchwa said. “And many times they rely on social media information which may not be true. Someone can screen shoot a tweet by a Government official and edit the information, causing unnecessary panic among the public.”
Prior to the lockdown, Uganda already suffered from COVID-19 fake news. In late February, there emerged an allegation that two Chinese factory workers living in Seeta (Mukono) had tested positive with the Coronavirus, and that they had been put into isolation by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry denied that claim. Other rumors persisted.
Muchwa saw African IT specialists with his idea, but seeking funds to develop a more accessible, honest information tool. While they waited, Muchwa moved ahead with his “COVID Guide.”
Screenshot of the COVID Guide application
The application uses specific words, or “commands,” to derive and give replies to the user. Some of the command key words include: Ministry of Health (MoH), World Health Organization (WHO) and the names of all 134 districts of Uganda. It contains incorporated links to the Uganda’s Ministry of Health and World Health Organization websites which help one easily get up-to-date information about new cases, total number of infections in the country, quarantine centres, recoveries, risk groups, among other relevant information.
Other features of the COVID Guide are emergency helplines for the ministry and district COVID-19 taskforce. Typing in the name of a district, even without Internet connection, brings the contact of the Resident District Commission of that district and his/her deputy. One can also use the same app to order a product from the market, especially Kampala markets, direct the dealer to put in on a boda-boda (motorcycle taxi) and receive it from home.
Muchwa admits that in addition to his passion for law, he is an “IT geek.” He is self taught, learning a little from a cousin who is an IT specialist but also from YouTube videos.
Prior to building this app, Muchwa built the Law Library app sui-genris, through which law students access learning materials, including some books. He also built a hostel-booking app through which UCU students can check hostels around the university and book them even from a far. He built a website for the UCU Law Society and Bobics app, for a fast food business outside the university.
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To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org
Uganda Christian University Law alumnus and International Justice Mission advocate, Conrad Oroya Obol (third right), shakes hand with Uganda’s Chief Justice, Bart Katurebe (left), during the launch of a plea-bargaining week in Gulu, Uganda, in June.
By Olum Douglas
In August 2016, a court sitting in Kampala, presided over by high-court judge, Wilson Masalu Musene, sent Stephen Kato, a 26-year-old married man, to a 10-year jail term for raping a 60-year-old woman.
Many Ugandans thought the sentence was too lenient. They went wild over the social media, condemning the judge for what they termed “bias,” given the fact that the country’s Penal Code Act (Section 124) prescribes a death sentence for a convicted rapist.
But the sentence was a product of an initiative by the judiciary, the plea bargain, through which the convict pleaded guilty instead of going through a trial, thus saving the court time and resources.
Plea bargain is an initiative in the criminal justice system where the defendant enters an agreement with the prosecution to plead guilty in exchange for the prosecutor to drop one or more charges, reduce a charge to a less serious offense, or recommend to the judge a specific sentence without going through normal court procedures. Once a deal is struck, the prosecutor, together with the advocate, presents the signed agreement with proposed punishment before the magistrate who either approves or rejects it.
In Uganda, the judiciary adopted the plea bargain initiative in 2015 to try and reduce the challenge of case backlogs that have proven a great menace to the justice system in the country. The problem is mostly attributed to inadequate human and financial resources in the judiciary.
A Justice Law and Order Sector January 2018 report revealed that many people continued to languish in the prisons with case files unattended. In one of the worst case scenarios, three suspects facing capital offences were forgotten in prison, after a judge adjourned their cases to the next convenient session, which only came after a decade of waiting.
Eliminating backlogs like these is where Uganda Christian University (UCU) Law students come in.
Students of UCU, through a partnership with the Christian-based Pepperdine University in California, help bridge the gap. Since the adoption of the initiative four years ago, students pursuing the Bachelor of Laws at UCU have been participating in the processes that include: studying files of accused persons, especially those facing charges of capital offences; examining accused persons; counselling prisoners; and bargaining for them.
Mirriam Achieng, a lecturer at the UCU Faculty of Law, said the students’ participation is part of a requirement for a course, Clinical Legal Education, where students must carry out projects and have hands-on experience of justice delivery.
In 2018, the initiative saw at least 600 cases disposed within five working days. This year, a report published by PML Daily Correspondent, a Uganda-based, online publication, revealed that at least 300 cases were disposed of in Northern Uganda’s Gulu area alone during a week-long, Plea-Bargaining Prison Camp held in the district in June.
The Uganda Judiciary Services body organizes the camp. Accused persons in prisons are sensitized, registered for the process, and their files are shared with the students for assessment and prior preparations. The students then meet the accused persons, listen to their issues and counsel them about the rights they will forego should they opt for a plea bargain. They also prepare the accused persons for the process, and participate in the negotiations until a final agreement is reached.
The down side is that sometimes prisoners plead guilty and serve their sentences in order to end anxiety and the uncertainly of whether they will be tried or not, even when they are sure that they did not commit the crime for which they are being accused.
Achieng says the students’ participation in the program has not only helped future lawyers in research and dissertation writing, but also gained for them connections with their colleagues from Pepperdine as well as attorneys and other legal minds from the United States of America.
Through this participation, UCU students have contributed towards reducing case backlogs, decongesting prisons, reducing anxiety among prisoners and enabling the accused persons to participate in determining their own punishments.
Mugero in his office at the Refugee Law Project (UgandaPartners photo)
By Brendah Ndagire
As of November 2018, precisely 1,181,322 refugees are within the borders of Uganda. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, most of these are from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also come from Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia and other countries. Uganda Christian University Law alumnus, Jesse Mugero, works as a legal officer with the Refugee Law Project (RLP), located in the Old Kampala area. He provides legal aid to refugees, asylum seekers and deportees and field training with the State Government’s Office of the Prime Minister. He also engages with non-governmental affiliates such as those associated with international criminal law who fight against sexual violence. Uganda Christian University Partners recently caught up with Mugero to learn more about his work with RLP. This interview follows a series of blogs on UCU graduates who are accompanying refugees in Uganda. The interview is edited for clarity.
Briefly, describe what you do
I work as legal officer with the Refugee Law Project, a Makerere University project started in the 1999 as an outreach project of the School of Law, to examine issues related to justice, conflict, migration and human rights. The Refugee Law Project is not a non-government organization nor a purely a government agency. Even though are we are part of the university, we do most of our work independently. In my role, I provide legal assistance to refugees, asylum seekers from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and few coming from Pakistan and Syria. I also work with people facing deportation and conduct capacity building. I mainly train state employees, such as the Uganda Police Force and the Military, basically sharing with them about international criminal law, because our (armed) forces are the people who for the most part have the first interaction with the refugees in places where they are assigned to keep peace, or at the border. It helps to train and support them to understand who a refugee, or an asylum seeker is, such that they know what to do, and how to protect them once they encounter them.
Explain more what capacity building looks like with RLP.
Depending on the training, it is meant to improve the knowledge of participants in a certain area. For example, we can have a conversation on sexual violence. The common understanding is that sexual violence only affects women, but from our Uganda experience especially in Northern Uganda, which suffered a two-decade war led by the Lord’s Resistance Army, we learned that sexual violence also affects men. Capacity building is then geared towards helping participants to understand the different ways in which this crime (sexual violence) occurs. This would then help them in documentation and collection of sufficient evidence of what has happened for possibly future trials. Capacity building broadens the knowledge base, and improves the ability to counter certain aspects of crimes committed against vulnerable groups. For example, this year, we have trained over 500 soldiers of the UGABAG (Uganda Battle group who go to Somalia), and over 300 members of the police force in the districts of Kitgum, Adjumani, Gulu, Arua, Kiryandongo, Hoima, and Mbarara. We train them about refugee rights, including their freedom from torture, freedom of movement, and right to life as well as how they own property, obtain legal representation, and apply for employment. We also help them understand sexual violence in international law, and torture, and abuse of human rights, which unfortunately is on the rise but people need to understand that it is wrong to commit torture. When people (policemen and army personnel) understand that, hopefully they will be part of the solution.
Article about Jesses’ father who inspired him to work with refugees
Apart from the Office of the Prime Minister, and its refugee department, who else do you partner with?
We partner with other refugee agencies such as the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and other partners in Adjumani District. We basically compliment each other. For example, DRC may refer clients to us for legal assistance, and we do the same in situations where they have more experience supporting refugees. We also partner with Inter-Aid in Kampala, which works with urban refugees, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for protection and resettlement in other countries especially for refugees from Rwanda and Congo who are usually hunted for political reasons here.
How does the legal process of representation look like in your experience?
There are two kinds of legal representation. One of them is helping an asylum seeker, someone who has just come into the country, and wants assistance in obtaining asylum. In Kampala, we help them to go to the Old Kampala Police Station to apply for asylum after which their application will be taken to the refugee eligibility committee which would grant or not grant refugee status. If not granted, they can appeal to the decision to the Refugee Appeals Board.
The other part of legal representation is the traditional one where a refugee can come for support in courts of law in case one of their relatives is legally in trouble. It is important to highlight that our services are free of charge, so we work with refugees because in most cases these are people of a lower economic status, and we help them to, for instance, secure police bond and bail. Sometimes language barrier is a big issue, and sometimes it is understanding what is considered a crime in Uganda and what is not. There may be a conflict of laws. For example, in South Sudan girls are married off when they are 16 years old, and in Uganda that is considered defilement. In this case, it is important to explain to a South Sudanese man that it is both illegal to marry and have sex with a 16-year-old in Uganda.
Why work with RLP?
I have always been inspired by the example of my father. He was a student in China in 1978. A Chinese journalist wrote an article at that time about a black medical student working with Vietnamese refugees in China. That black student was my father. My mother kept the article somewhere in our home, and when I found it, I was particularly inspired by him. I have wanted to be part of and living for a cause that is bigger than myself. And creating an impact that will last for generations to come.
What do you think was the most positive aspect of getting an education at UCU?
The education at UCU helped me to understand that life is one indivisible whole. I learned to integrate my faith into my career interests. When I joined the Honors College , I was exposed to brilliant students who challenged me to grow in different ways. I was challenged to strive for excellence. I also grew in my leadership and found many opportunities to serve within the Honors College and UCU community generally.
What classes stood out for you that currently have a huge impact on your career with RLP?
My best class was the Christian Legal Political Thought. It was very interesting because it helped me to appreciate the wide perspectives of law and justice within a Christian lens. To recognize that as a Christian, we live in a pluralist society/world, that there will always be different opinions on particular policy issues outside of the Christian perspectives and how to respectively engage with them is important.
Where do you see God’s work in the lives of the refugees you are accompanying?
I see God in His being sovereign. When I think about the challenging experiences of refugees, very few (1% of refugees world wide) get an opportunity to be resettled in (economically) rich nations, and it can be a daunting thought for many of them. I see God working in the refugees who are happily living here in Uganda with little/limited economic resources, and becoming very creative with the little they have. For example, many refugees from the Congo have succeeded in the clothing industry. They make their own fabrics, sell them and are able to pay for school fees for their children.
Jesse conducting legal training in Moyo District
What are your most proud moments working with refugees?
On a teenager who allegedly stole a phone: One of the most profound experience working with the refugees has been working with refugee mothers. One time there was a woman whose son had been arrested for allegedly stealing a phone. When the woman came to me, she was both very disappointed and sad for her son. I spoke with her, and gave her some advice such as securing a police bond, and how to cooperate with the police. And I will never forget the smile she had when she came back to me the following week. She was so happy and grateful for her freed son. And she makes these really beautiful African and Congolese fabrics, and she offered that if I ever need any fabric, she would make it for me at a discount.
On a single mother who faced eviction: Another time I felt proud was when I helped to accompany a refugee woman whose husband was killed on the way from DRC. She has six children to raise on her own. She was getting evicted by her landlord who had given her only two days to leave his premises. I intervened and spoke with the landlord and she was later given a one-month grace period to look for a new apartment. Knowing that she had another month with a roof over her family, it gave me satisfaction in ways financial achievements cannot.
On training armed officers: Sometimes when we are training military or police officers on the need to respect human rights and stop the habit of torture, one of the officers said to me, “I am going to implement what you have taught me today because torture is not something I personally want to commit, but I do it because I want to follow directions from our leaders.” It is promising and transformative to hear someone committing to engaging more humanly with the perceived other/enemy.
One of the key messages we put forward is that refugees are human beings just as any other human beings. That forced migrants also have rights, and have entitlements under Uganda’s laws. We also need to emphasize that Uganda has been hosting forced migrants since world II and that this is not something new to our society.
This story is just one of many examples of how Uganda Christian University graduates are making a difference in their country. If you would like to assist a current student or otherwise support the university, contact Mark Bartels, executive director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/.
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Timothy Kakuru, BFL Program Director (BarefootLaw Photo)
This second of two segments follows last week’s story of how UCU Law graduates are making a difference in the lives of Ugandans with the non-profit BarefootLaw (BFL) organization. This week features an interview with BarefootLaw’s Program Director, Timothy Kakuru, to understand why BFL is doing the type of legal work across Ugandan communities. This interview is edited for clarification purposes.
What attracted you to Uganda Christian University Law School? When I applied for the law program at UCU, it had a very good reputation among legal practitioners in Uganda. Before I came to UCU, all I knew about (studying) law is that you were in the program to graduate and make money. That I would become a lawyer, go to court, (argue a specific case) and get money – to somehow become rich. After I got to UCU, I learned that they were other ways to use my law degree. Primarily, UCU School of Law put a Christian aspect to legal practice, which changed the dynamics (of practice) for many of us (law students and graduates). I know many UCU graduates who are working within the non-profit field, because for the most part, the law program at UCU was about service, doing work for the greater good of the community, than serving to gain some sort of financial gain. Most other law schools in Uganda teach law in (the lens) of justice, but in UCU, it was not only through (the perspective of) justice but also in terms of Christian ethics.
How is the Christian ethic approach different? Justice is what is right, according to the law. The difference lies in how a crime is prosecuted. For example, if someone burns your house, justice for you would be in terms of (monetary) compensation. To put a Christian aspect to that example, then one seeks to understand why the other person burnt your house, and seek to reconcile the two parties. The big gap is that often time in the legal system, there is no element of reconciliation, where as at UCU we were taught to try to reconcile the two parties by looking at the whys and the hows of a specific wrong action, and then solve the issue amicably.
How did BarefootLaw evolve? The BarefootLaw was incorporated in 2013 as non-profit legal agency. The idea of BarefootLaw came from Gerald Abila in 2012 who begun a Facebook Page to share legal information. I met him at Law Development Centre in 2013 and he shared the idea with me, I liked it and agreed to join him and slowly the team grew from there. The grand idea was to make justice available to people through giving them legal information. The crux of it was that if people knew their rights, then they would be able to enforce them. They would not really need legal representation because they would be able to avoid (potential) conflicts. For example, if that businessman knew that defilement was a crime, he would avoid having relationships with young girls. Many people are not aware that certain actions are legal offenses. The idea was to provide as much legal information that people would know that they would avoid engaging in crimes.
Left to right, Isaac, Timothy and Gerald, Co-founders of Barefoot Law. (BarefootLaw Photo)
What did the implementation process of the idea look like? We thought using technology would be our best strategy. Gerald (CEO) had already opened up a FaceBook page and I came on board to partner in writing content and publishing. Later, we came up with the an idea of doing sms, small call centers, website platforms and other mechanisms including community outreach and legal training with people in rural communities. We thought this would be our way of empowering people with legal information so that they may be able to avoid crime, or know what to do in case of a criminal offense.
But why BarefootLaw as a non profit legal agency and not as a profit-making law firm? I had worked with the Uganda Law Council during my time at LDC, and had witnessed how many people had been taken advantage of. The Uganda Law Council disciplines lawyers. There were cases where lawyers were accused of taking someone’s property such as land, and in other cases a son of an elderly man working with corrupt lawyers to take away his father’s land. I thought I was already in a toxic law field. There were backlog of cases dating to 1994, and just so many unethical issues that was disillusioning, and I was not ready to jump into such a legal (justice) system.
I had always wanted to do something more meaningful and impactful to the ordinary person with my law degree. BarefootLaw to me was an opportunity for us to have every individual be ‘their own lawyer’ – we thought if people knew just enough information about law or human rights, they would be able to know if, for instance, you are entitled to bail once you have been arrested and detained for more than 48 hours. BarefootLaw is about making sure that ordinary people are empowered by understanding their human rights.
How do you reach out to people? We have a very big social media presence. We have over 200,000 Facebook followers on our platforms, and in that sense most people do come to us for legal help. We do have community outreaches in some Districts, such as Soroti, Arua, Apach, Lira, and we try to get as many people as possible. We have an SMS and call center platform where most people can reach us. In a day, we can get about 50 cases. Some days are more others days less. Some cases are serious, others are not.
What has stood out for you working with BFL? Most of the lawyers who work with us at BFL are from UCU. They are UCU graduates. And this shows that we are attracting young lawyers to do things differently within the Uganda legal system. As you may know, money drives most people, including in Uganda. And at BFL we try to challenge that by providing our services at a free cost in most cases. The admirable thing about BFL is that people who work with us are aware that they are not doing it primarily for the money.
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Stories such as Timothy’s and the experiences of the people they have walked with to seek free legal support, are the reason why Uganda Partners supports law students so that they may have access to empowering and Christ centered education – a type of education that is making a huge difference in their communities. If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in the communities around Uganda such as Timothy Kakuru and the UCU graduates team at BarefootLaw, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners’ Executive Director, at mtbartels@gmail.com. Also follow our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages.
Timothy and BFL colleagues in Belgium receiving the 2017 King Baudouin African Development Prize. (BarefootLaw Photo)
“What,” an anxious young man began, “does punishment for defilement mean?”
It was 2014. James (not his actual name) hopelessly asked the question to lawyers at BarefootLaw (BFL), a nonprofit legal organization founded in the Ntinda, greater Kampala area, Uganda.
The lawyers responded: “The maximum punishment for defilement is life in prison, and if it is aggravated defilement, someone may be subjected to capital punishment.”
The BFL legal team then received a message from James detailing what happened to his 12-year-old sister in Eastern Uganda’s Lganga District. A powerful businessman was accused of sexual abuse/defilement of the young girl. The man was caught in the act and taken to the police, but the offender negotiated with the police and was let go. He had paid the child’s mother some compensation to get the mother to drop the charges.
But the older brother couldn’t forget. He knew that his younger sister had been raped and deserved more than a monetary payoff by the perpetrator and a brush off by police. Despite the mother’s refusal to press on past her compensation and no help from Ugandan legal prosecutors, James reached out to BFL to reopen and proceed with the case.
According to BFL lawyers, no one should be able to compensate his way out of a rape/defilement charge. BFL took on the case of James and his sister. Two years later, there was a conviction of three year’s imprisonment for the perpetrator. Not enough, but some vindication.
“The news of the conviction made our year,” said UCU Law graduate Timothy Kakuru. “It made us realize that no matter how hopeless the case may be we have to keep encouraging the person we are helping to get justice.”
Timothy Kakuru leads a workshop with BFL beneficiaries. (BarefootLaw Photo)
Stories like James’ are part of many successful stories Timothy’s BFL creates every year. Timothy shared another story of a young woman who was working in a security company. She was sexually harassed by one of her male bosses. Many times she had reported the abuse but nothing happened to the culprits. In Uganda, oftentimes when the victims of sexual violence report such abuses they are met with such accusations as: “You invited it… it was your fault…the way you were dressed.” The victims of sexual violence are often blamed for what has happened to them.
Another young woman, working in the IT department of an organisation got a video recording of her being harassed by security officials. She hoped she could use the video to sue the company, but the company decided to fire her and tried to get her arrested for stealing their company video. By the time she came to BFL for justice, she was very terrified because officials were threatening her.
Barefoot Law guided her to notify her employers of her intention to sue, detailing all the laws broken by her bosses at the security company, and listing out how much (money) she could ask for in terms of compensation. The lawsuit according to Timothy, would have included sexual abuse, wrongful termination, and mental suffering/health. The letter got into the hands of the Human Resource Manager and later in the hands of the director of the company. To protect its image, after receiving a letter from her, a week later, the company m informed her that it would compensate her.
“In the end, she decided not to go ahead with the lawsuit because it was going to be a very long and tiring process, and she was happy with the decent financial compensation received. This helped to restore her dignity,” said Timothy.
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COMING UP: Next week, UCU Partners will share more of an interview with BarefootLaw co-founder Timothy Kakuru. Included will be more details how Barefoot Law got started and how more lives have been transformed by this non-profit organization.
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If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in the communities around Uganda such as Timothy Kakuru and the UCU graduates’ team at Barefoot Law, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners’ Executive Director, at mtbartels@gmail.com. Also follow our Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin pages.
“I knew that all the [Government] Ministries had websites, but most people do not visit those,” Muchwa said. “And many times they rely on social media information which may not be true. Someone can screen shoot a tweet by a Government official and edit the information, causing unnecessary panic among the public.”
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