Writer: Gawaya Tegulle. PHOTO/FILE
Need new glasses, I wager; else how could I have noticed only last week that there is now a statue of legendary Chief Justice Ben Kiwanuka at the main High Court building in Kampala? Insistence on doing what was right got him killed by former president Idi Amin in 1972.
Amin chose the path of brutality to ensure compliance with his despotic rule and usually settled matters in a swift, businesslike manner, with a grisly, ghastly, gruesome and devastating finality to it: bloodshed. But then again, Amin didn’t see more than three or four blackboards in his entire life and he lacked an enlightened approach to statecraft. That is why he was not afraid to shed blood in broad daylight.
Terribly naive: you don’t need to kill a judge, talk less of a chief justice at that – history will never forgive you. That’s why an education is important, so that you can be a, what’s the word...smart despot. A good education gives you a level of sophistication that enables you to play dirty games in a clean and creative way. Smart despots don’t kill a judge; they aim to kill the entire judiciary, but heck, they are smart and cool about it!
First, stay in power for a while. Don’t do just eight years like Amin and then be driven out like a chicken thief, by a quasi-communist outfit from down south, led by a former teacher. Naah! Stay on forever. By the time anyone makes the bench, they will have met or worked with you a million times. They’ll be so close to you that their hands will be effectively tied whenever they have to make a decision that is adverse to your higher interest.
Then, exert absolute power; supersede the State, its institutions and the law. Make sure that everyone knows exactly which side of their bread is buttered and more importantly, who is buttering that bread.
Set up structures that people see and applaud; for semblance of progressive statecraft. You could, say, appoint a Judicial Service Commission, properly staffed, and nicely paid, with mandate to recommend to you which persons should join the hallowed bench. Then ignore the commission completely when the chips are down. Direct them on who they should recommend to you for the bench. I guarantee you that they will be happy to let the sleeping dogs lie, and just munch on their salaries and enjoy trips overseas.
And be creative. You could, for example, consider putting a hatchet man in a very strategic position in the Judiciary. He doesn’t even have to be a judge or to have studied law. Nah. He just has to be brazen, untouchable, tough-as-nails and be generally known to be your boy; wielding a battle-axe over everyone’s head. He will get your work done by literally bulldozing his way around, knocking everyone in his path and leaving commotion in his wake. He will easily beat their learned lordships into line; they will be all robes and wigs, but nothing more when the chips are down.
You might also consider other strategic positions along the line, which are essentially checkpoints: their brief will be to ensure that cases against the government or against powerful individuals are not heard at all, or are so delayed, that they no longer make sense to pursue. Or if they are heard, the judgments favour the government, or at worst, do not harm the government in any way.
Stick and carrot work well in such times, but you gotta be skilful and slippery while at it. The bright and upright members of the bench, watch them closely. When they try to be clever, making decisions adverse to your interest, don’t beat them up. No; that’s backward. Who still does that? Transfer them to some wild, remote station upcountry where they’ll be strained, stretched and stressed. Or forget about them for a few years; no promotion, no foreign trips, no nothing.
Watch out for signs of repentance; if there’s none, no problem – the clock keeps ticking, the calendar keeps moving. They will retire in the same positions. Then those who see that, if they are wise, will know what to do when push comes to shove, especially as they see you rapidly promote their wiser colleagues who lick your boots. Creativity. Innovation. Strategy.
Mr Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda [email protected]
