Author: Karoli Ssemogerere. PHOTO/FILE
“Mr Ssemogerere, the Attorney General does not respond to letters. He represents government in court, that is the function of this office!”
With that terse introduction, I was introduced brashly to his chambers. In his time as Attorney General, Dr Khiddu Makubuya as he was known, hid behind a mountain of books, he worked out of a small space on his front desk.
He rarely looked people in the eye, he spoke from behind the shadow of authorities, a testament to his past as a law don at Makerere University, where he was first appointed a teaching assistant tutoring students in jurisprudence, an upper-class course offered by both Third Years and Master’s students, in theDepartment of Public and Comparative Law.
His words of wisdom were deep and incisive. He was always at pains to distinguish Makubuya the individual and Makubuya the legal representative of the government.
Inanother exchange he told me, “I may have a rogue as a client.” “My job is to defend my client as best as I can or I am permitted to do.”
As Attorney General, he defended the election of his boss, President Museveni, in 2006, the first election under multi-party rule where one judge miraculously changed his stand and voted to uphold the election of the President.
In 2011, an election held at a time of near collapse of the Ugandan economy when the Uganda shilling lost more than a third of its value to the greenback on the back of the purchase of the Sukhoi-27 fighter jets from the Soviet Union, no petition was filed by the runner up in the election, Kizza Besigye.
In 2016, when Col (retired) Kizza Besigye came near his final2006 tally, the solution was different, he could not even file an election petition.
Dr Besigye’s home in Kasangati,Wakiso District, was surrounded by security officers and the offices of his party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) ransacked. A feeble attempt at a petition by former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi resulted in pronouncements by the Supreme Court that are yet to be implemented by government. But by this time, Mr. Makubuya had given way, lost a campaign for re-election and returnedto private practice.
In 2012, Makubuya, then minister of General Duties in the Office of thePrime Minister, andthen Labour minister Syda Namirembe Bbumba, both Members of Parliament from Luweero, resigned from Cabinet on account of the Basajjabalaba CitySquare compensation saga. Ms Bbumba’sgoose had been cooked as minister of Finance when the donor community blocked her return to the Financeministry.
So was Makubuya’s return as Attorney General. However, the contrast in their ways, was how they silently went to support the government from the back benches without much of a whimper, stating there was a time to be a minister, and time not to be a minister. Little was heard from Makubuya ever since. Perhaps he was shocked by the viciousness of the politics of the time.
In his later years, I always looked forward to seeing him at the Annual Uganda LawSociety General Assembly. For some reason, he was always carrying either a light bag or a polythene bag, nothing close to the Law books that surrounded him in the Chambers of the Attorney General. Maybe, this was his statement about the rule of law in the country.
In 2005, the chambers of the Attorney Generalproduced the most comprehensive re-write of the 1995 Constitution, tinkering with its proper functioning and balance of power.
There are yet some provisions of these amendments, including the form and shape of regional governments that are yet to be tested. Perhaps, the authors of these provisions like Makubuya,have now died with the rationale for these changes. No one, for example, has a legitimate answer why regions like Buganda, Busoga, Tooro and others have not moved governments to enact legislation to operationalise the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution.
Makubuya was a Law don,intellectual and politician. He will, therefore,be missed.
Mr Ssemogerere is an Attorney-At-Law and an Advocate.
