Dr Khiddu Makubuya, the former attorney general and distinguished law don was yesterday reported to be ailing.
In fact, his family quickly dimissed as false, reports that the law proffessor had passed on. That was heartening to hear.
While every good meaning person would wish Makubuya a speedy recovery, this state affairs also calls for a deep refelection on his storied academic life and horrendous political career.
This is how it all started.
For the record, Mukubuya was the first student to be awarded a first-class degree by the Faculty of Law, Makerere University, in 1974.
The process leading to this award was contentious.
A committee of eminent law dons chaired by Prof Abraham Kiapi, then Dean of the Faculty of Law and comprising Prof George Kanyeihamba and Sam Kalega Njuba sat to consider the award.
When the proceedings began, Kiapi and Kanyeihamba objected to the award.
“Why?” Njuba asked them.
They did not have any convincing answer. In fact, they accused Njuba of rooting for Makubuya because both were Baganda.
But Njuba, during extensive interviews with The Observer (conducted by this author), suspected that Kiapi and Kanyeihamba were just jealous because they themselves had not gotten a first-class degree.
Otherwise, he said, Makubuya had excelled at his studies and was fully deserving of the award.
For this reason and after Makubuya later got to know of the contentious process that led to his award, he came to revere and respect Njuba.
So much so that whenever he ran into him at any public event, he would bow as he shook his hand vigorously, sometimes to the annoyance of Njuba.
Prolific academic
Makubuya went on to become a prolific academic in the faculty of law. Five years after he got his bachelor’s degree, Makubuya had obtained a master’s and PhD from Yale Law School in the United States.
In 1984 (ten years after graduating) Makubuya was elevated to associate professor, a big feat in itself.
As a lecturer and teacher, he could be termed as “boring” according to some of his former students. He was the quintessential professor––– very formal in dress, bookish, no time to crack jokes and no time to socialize with students.
He lived a simple life. He did not have a car, did not dress fancifully. He was always weighed down by a briefcase, full of books and papers.
Makubuya wrote several law books and papers in international journals that became essential in the teaching and understanding of law in Uganda.
His book: Introduction to Law: The Uganda Case written in 1983 still remains a must read for first year law students in Uganda.
Later in the 1980s, he served as a member of the Uganda Constitutional Commission, which was instrumental in drafting the 1995 Constitution of Uganda.
Poor politician
Makubuya’s first foray into national politics came in 1996 when he was elected Katikamu South MP. Thereafter, he was appointed to a number of ministerial posts (Luwero Triangle, Regional Cooperation, Education) but his defining moment came after he was appointed Attorney General in 2005.
As Attorney General, Makubuya made two major misjudgments which have inevitably come to define his political legacy.
The first came in 2005 shortly before the presidential nominations. Then FDC’s Dr Kizza Besigye was in Luzira and the Electoral Commission was in a fix as to whether Besigye can be nominated while in prison.
Makubuya stunned the legal fraternity and the public when he advised that Besigye could not be nominated because he was “half guilty” of the crimes he had been accused of (treason and rape) as he put it in his letter.
In the ensuing furor, Electoral Commission disregarded Makubuya’s advice and went ahead to nominate an incarcerated Besigye.
The second blunder came in 2009, when he was accused of rendering legal advice to the president that led to misuse of Shs 142 billion of taxpayer’s money.
The money was paid to HABA Group, a company that belonged to businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba as compensation after government decided to take back the control of city markets previously managed by the group.
He was forced to resign as minister for General Duties in 2012 and in a statement on the floor of Parliament, Makubuya said: “There is time for everything. There is time to be a minister and time to cease. Madam speaker, honorable members thank you for listening to me.”
This more or less marked the end of Makubuya’s political career.
In 2016, he was defeated in the NRM Primaries for the Katikamu South seat by Edward Sembatya, a former staff in Parliament.
When President Museveni held a rally in Luwero, he told the crowd that he would “find Makubuya something to do.”
The crowd roared back: “Mutwale” (take him).
They had had enough of him. After 2016, Makubuya retreated to private work and became a legal consultant for various national and international organizations. He rejected offers to go back to teaching.
Occasionally, he could be seen jogging in the areas of Kiwatule and Najjera at times pausing to walk.
In those jogs and walks, Makubuya no doubt often found time to reflect on his career as an academic and later, as a politician.
Well, some would conclude that he was a five-star academic who became a one-star politician.
