Even in his old age, Kanyeihamba would make his appearance in court to witness and defend his numerous cases
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I The late Prof Dr Kanyeihamba was a whiz kid on the floor of court. It’s likely that knowledge that he could argue out any case in court and emerge victorious gave him the guts to even confront the big and mighty in the land.
He was a towering figure in Uganda’s legal landscape, and a dependable advocate. Known for his fearless dissents and unwavering defense of the rule of law, he at one time delivered a dissenting judgment in the 2006 Presidential Election Petition, where he ruled that President Museveni’s re-election was marred by significant irregularities that warranted annulment. His legal opinion was that the election was marred with gross irregularities to allow the results to be upheld.
Museveni’s case
In another case, Justice Kanyeihamba with 5 Other individual brought a case again the Attorney General in: Kanyeihamba v Attorney General, President Yoweri Museveni and his political party – the National Resistance Movement (in the Constitutional Petition No 27 of 2021) 2023 UGCC 4 of 16 January 2023.
In a petition, brought under Chapters 1 and 4, and Article 137 of the Constitution, challenged the perceived threat to the right to bail in Uganda.
It was initially lodged by prof. Dr. George Wilson Kanyeihamba, an acclaimed jurist, and Messrs. John Solomon Nabuyanda, Edrine Price Bbosa, Alex Wavamunno, Ronald William Asiimwe and Simon Ssenyonga.
These were all self-styled human rights activists and ardent believers in constitutionalism and the rule of law. (‘the Petitioners’).
This particular petition was opposed by the office of the Attorney General (‘the First Respondent’), which denied any infringement of the cited constitutional provisions and contended that the Petition was misconceived, speculative and improperly before this court’
The First Respondent further contended that the Petition was untenable as against President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (‘the second Respondent’), given his constitutional immunity from any court proceedings as a sitting President.
“This neither raises a cause of action against the NRM (‘the Third Respondent) nor any question for constitutional interpretation. The First Respondent’s Answer to the Petition is supported by the affidavit of Ms’ Lucy Mbonye Nakyobye’ the Head of public Service and Secretary to Cabinet that was deposed on 28th October 2021,” reads a judge’s statement.
Justice Kanyeihamba brushed shoulders with legal minds in Uganda in his hey days
The First Respondent faulted the Petition for being misconceived’ premature and speculative insofar as it challenges statements of opinion and proposed legal reforms that had not yet been passed into law.’
“It is further considered to be incompetent for relying upon inadmissible, hearsay evidence in the form of newspaper reports, and is opined to raise no question for constitutional interpretation. without prejudice to the foregoing points of law’ the First Respondent contended that the constitution confers immunity upon the second Respondent with regard to all court proceedings.”
Accordingly, although the Second Respondent was sued in the capacity of Chairperson of the NRM, service upon the Third Respondent would not amount to personal service upon him.
Court ruled that the Petition did not present any formal reform proposals, simply alluding to a memorandum of proposed amendments to Article 23 (6) of the Constitution and section 25 of the Police Act that was allegedly authored by the Hon. Attorney General, without availing it to the Court.
The other instance was when Justice Kisaakye, formerly of the Supreme Court sued Kanyeihamba over defamation.
Justice Kisaakye in her law suit accused Kanyeihamba for alleged defamation, invasion of privacy and unlawful conduct among others. The defendant was unrepentant, unapologetic and preferred to let justice take its course despite of the case which clearly showed that he was in the wrong.
In his last act of defiance before he went to meet his maker, Justice Kanyeihamba dragged a Kampala-based lawyer to court over money laundering after allegedly defrauding him of over Shs 200 million.
Andrew Obam, 38, was arrested by operatives from the State House Anti-Corruption Unit for allegedly failing to return $56,800 (about Shs 212 million) that had been deposited into his law firm’s account under suspicious circumstances.
Obam appeared before grade one magistrate Paul Mujuni at the Anti-Corruption court in Kololo recently, and was charged with a single count of money laundering.
Prosecution told court that between October 2022 and September 2024, Obam knowingly received large sums of money into the Bank of Africa account belonging to Loi Advocates, a firm where he is a partner.
The money was allegedly transferred using stolen cheques linked to the 86-year-old retired judge.
Such was the late Justice Kanyeihamba’s nature: confident in his conviction and knowledge of the law. He was defiant to the very end. But this nature might have been the one which enabled him scale the ladder of justice in this country to become the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, leveraging his expertise to shape the country’s legal landscape.
