BAKAMPA BRIAN BARYAGUMA
MOBILE: +256753124713 / +256772748300;
EMAIL: bakampasenior@gmail.com;
WEB: www.huntedthinker.blogspot.com;
Kampala, Uganda.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Tuesday, 20th January, 2026.
To:
1.
H.E. the President of the Republic of Uganda,
KAMPALA.
2.
Rt. Hon. Alitwala Rebecca Kadaga,
1st Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African
Community Affairs,
KAMPALA.
3.
Hon. Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Kahinda Otafiire,
Minister for Internal Affairs,
KAMPALA.
4.
Hon. Oboth-Oboth Jacob,
Minister for Defence and Veterans Affairs,
KAMPALA.
5.
Hon.
Mao Nobert,
Minister
for Justice and Constitutional Affairs,
KAMPALA.
6.
Head
of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet,
KAMPALA.
Your Excellency and Honourable Ministers,
Re: Request to
Intervene and Prevent Attorney General from Mismanaging the Process of Breaking
the Monopoly of LDC on Teaching the Bar Course
 |
1.
Preliminary Remarks
“When your work speaks
for itself, don't interrupt,” Henry J. Kaiser.
Thank you for the good work you are doing for Uganda. God bless
you. Plus, I congratulate you and your respective political parties for the
wins registered in the just concluded presidential and parliamentary general
elections. I wish you more victories in the other elections for local government councils
and special interest groups representatives.
2.
Introduction
“When you cease to make
a contribution, you begin to die,” Eleanor Roosevelt, in Joseph P. Lash,
Eleanor: The Years Alone (1972).
I am writing to Your
Excellency and selected Cabinet Ministers requesting you to urgently intervene
and prevent Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka and staff in his chambers from
mismanaging the process of breaking the monopoly of Law Development Centre
(LDC) on teaching the Bar course.
As Your Excellency may
recall, I proposed to you that LDC be abolished, the teaching of the bar
course be devolved to universities, called upon you and government to support
my proposition and attached a Bill operationalizing my idea for your perusal.
These were part of my complaint to you against Justice Elubu Michael dated Tuesday,
6th December, 2022, at page 26, lines 651-666 (accessible
online at https://huntedthinker.blogspot.com/2022/12/investigation-and-removal-from-office.html). I am very glad that government has bought into my idea, authorised
Attorney General (AG) to come up with legislation to this end; and that in fact
the AG has come up with a Bill. Through you, Mr. President, I thank government
very much for consenting to my request. God bless you all.
I have chosen the
designated Cabinet Ministers because of the crucial roles they played/still
play in the course of this matter. Before approaching Your
Excellency, I had earlier pursued this matter in
Parliament in 2014-2015 (see complaint accessible online at https://huntedthinker.blogspot.com/2017/06/complaint-concerning-under-performance.html?m=0).
It is during that time that I had quite impactful and cordial engagements with
the selected Ministers to whom this letter is also addressed: Rt. Hon. Kadaga
was the Speaker of the House who presided over debate on the matter and handled
other attendant issues; Hon. Otafiire was the Minister of Justice and
Constitutional Affairs under whose political oversight LDC falls, but was also
quite actively seized of the matter including even meeting bar course students with
the then-Director; and Hon. Oboth-Oboth was the mover of the motion in the
House to investigate the complaint against the underperformance
of LDC and other related issues. Hon. Mao
Nobert is the current Minister of Justice and
Constitutional Affairs under whose docket Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka
is spearheading legislation to abolish LDC and devolve the teaching of the bar
course to universities; and last but not least, the Head of Public Service and Secretary
to Cabinet is written to by virtue of her administrative and managerial roles in
implementing government decisions and coordinating public service activities
under the President. By this letter, I request the selected Hon. Ministers to
remember the journey we have traveled, note the sacrifices made and acknowledging
the victories gained along the way, take steps to ensure that the end result of
our cherished and shared dream is not substandard or even rendered futile.
3.
The
Problem with Attorney General’s Bill
“Bad laws are the worst sort of
tyranny,” Edmund Burke.
Mr. President and Hon.
Ministers, the AG’s Bill is very
problematic for reasons traversed shortly below. I conceived this
idea of abolishing LDC and devolving the teaching of bar course to universities
in 2014, in my complaint alluded to above at page 3, lines 46-58. Therefore I
am the architect of this whole matter and have had close to 12 years of
thinking and brainstorming on it. Trust me when I tell you that Attorney
General Kiryowa Kiwanuka is mishandling and going about this matter the wrong
way. His Bill is a lousy piece of patchwork that is deficient for our country’s
legal education needs. Below are my reasons for thinking and saying so.
A.
Focusing Solely/Predominantly on
Examination
The Bill focuses on examination, which is just
one of the steps in the process of legal education and training, meaning that it
is lacking and highly deficient, unable to cater for present and future needs
of legal education in Uganda. I have told AG Kiwanuka this much but apparently
he is a very arrogant man who does not listen to good advice. Even if you reject
the advice, at least listen and be seen to do so.
Since
we made a bold decision to reform and transform legal education by devolving
the teaching of the bar course to universities, we need a comprehensive law
that adequately fulfills that grand aspiration. The law should address all
aspects of legal education from accreditation, to admission,
teaching/instruction, supervision and examination, among others. But more so
teaching: who is teaching; what are they teaching; for what purpose; how; when,
where, etc., but not just focusing at the tail-end of the process on
examination.
B.
Does Not Properly
Provide for Crucial Transitional Arrangements
The Bill does not properly provide for crucial transitional
arrangements. How or why? If you look at, for instance, clause
53 (2) and (3) (draft of 22nd
July 2025), it talks about transition of LDC students. Sub-clause (2) provides
that a person who immediately before the commencement of the Act was registered
as a student of LDC and has failed three or more examinations shall enroll to
study the postgraduate diploma in legal practice programme at an accredited
institution. On the other hand, sub-clause (3) propounds that a person who
immediately before the commencement of the Act was registered as a student of
LDC, fails a supplementary examination set by the envisaged National Legal
Examinations Centre (NLEC) shall apply to study the postgraduate diploma in
legal practice programme at an accredited institution.
Your
Excellency and Hon. Ministers, this scanty transitional arrangement presents
very serious fundamental challenges and leaves many questions unanswered. For example
the following–
1.
What happens to people who failed three or more examinations at
LDC but are not registered students of LDC immediately before the
commencement of the Act? This Bill shuts
them out of the new Centre (NLEC) and are never to become advocates to practise
their profession. What an absurdity this is!
Actually, Mr. President and Hon. Ministers, I fall squarely in
this category of people because as the situation stands now, I
stand dismissed from LDC for failing four (4) examinations – and there is a case
pending in the Court of Appeal since 2022 over this. It is therefore not far-fetched
to say that I am the primary and principal target of this sinister and
bad-hearted provision, aiming at making my case moot, if ever the Court hears it,
as Deputy Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Dr. Flavian Zeija is refusing to give me
a panel to hear it, even in the face of this new urgent reality. Yet there are ordinary
civil appeals like mine that were filed in 2025 and were heard in the same
year! Can you imagine? This is very wrong and unfair.
2.
When did you put in place a postgraduate diploma in legal practice
programme and at which accredited institution, if you say that a
person who failed three or more examinations at LDC and was a registered student
there immediately before the commencement of the Act shall enroll to study the
programme at an accredited institution?
3.
What of current university students who have not yet gone to LDC for
practical, professional training, especially if LDC is to be closed this year as already effectively
announced, well in advance of an enabling law? Are they to enroll as advocates without getting professional,
practical training? If they are to get it, from where and when?
C.
Facilitates Wastage of Scarce
Resources
Your
Excellency and Hon. Ministers, AG Kiwanuka’s Bill entails an amorphous and
exaggerated leadership structure that will only consume scarce taxpayers’
money, unnecessarily. It creates too many busy bodies that can (and should) be
done away with, including the Attorney General who is vested with too much and
uncalled for powers. Quite frankly, the AG has no business meddling in teaching
and training lawyers cum future advocates. That should be left to the
universities with their National Council for Higher Education, the Ministry of
Education and the Law Council. In any case, the AG has more or less the same
powers under the current legal and administrative structure of LDC: has it made
the situation any better? No! The rot and abuse goes on unabated under his very
nose. So what difference are they making now? AG Kiryowa Kiwanuka and his allies
at LDC are just seeking to preserve their privileges and continue their cruel,
oppressive and tyrannical system, albeit under new cover and disguises, while
wasting our money.
D.
It is Brought in Bad Faith
The
Bill is even brought in extremely bad faith, in three ways: one, it is a scam designed to be passed
into law without exhaustive scrutiny; two,
it crystalizes into law LDC’s vendetta and hatred for me as a person; and three, it seeks to entrench and
perpetuate a culture of abuse through veils of secrecy propped by stiff
punishments for deviation.
1.
A
Scam Designed to be Passed into Law without Exhaustive Scrutiny
In collusion with LDC officials, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka
is peddling the biggest legislative scam in the history of Uganda that is
probably worse than even the 1967 pigeon hall Constitution, for its (the Bill’s)
smooth cunningness. They created an artificial emergency in which they
effectively declared that LDC will close this year (2026) even before an
enabling law is made. This is tantamount to putting the cart before the horse J
because ordinarily passing of the law should precede the closure of LDC; but
not its closure coming first and the law next. AG Kiwanuka’s aim is to put
everybody in a scare frenzy and on tenterhooks, thereby avoid exhaustive
scrutiny of his hollow plan and pass the Bill hurriedly, with the grand aim of enabling
them in a selfish scheme through which LDC officials will keep their jobs under
the proposed National Legal Examinations Centre, while AG Kiwanuka will preserve
the powers and privileges he currently enjoys by virtue of his office under the
LDC dispensation, in the new examinations centre. Attorney General Kiryowa
Kiwanuka should resign or be dismissed from his post for being disingenuous in
the conduct of national affairs.
2.
Crystalizing
into Law LDC’s Vendetta and Hatred for Me as a Person
I
have already said above at page 6, lines 113-114, that I am the primary and
principal target of the Bill’s sinister and bad-hearted clause 53 (2) (draft of 22nd July 2025). In
this regard, AG Kiwanuka’s Bill is directed against me specifically, aiming to
prevent me from being admitted to the planned National Legal Examinations
Centre. Why? For the obvious reason that I exposed LDC’s abuses, which has caused
its eventual demise; and in so doing, stepped in the plate of all those
benefitting from it. This is more pay-back time for the hounds who are out to permanently
get at me full-throttle using legislation to prevent me from ever becoming an
advocate and practise my profession.
3.
Seeking
to entrench and perpetuate a culture of abuse through veils of secrecy propped
by stiff punishments for deviation
The
legal regime and operational environment under AG Kiwanuka’s Bill will be far
worse than that subsisting today with LDC. His Bill seeks to entrench and
perpetuate a culture of abuse through veils of secrecy propped by stiff
punishments for deviation. This is seen in notably clause 40 on disclosure of
information and clause 45 on keeping information confidential (see draft of 22nd July 2025).
These clauses are clearly aimed at hiding utterly criminal incidents of forgery
(including alteration of students’ marks) for which LDC has been well known and
actually exposed. This new law seeks to gag and victimize sayers of the truth
within the viciously shady examination channels.
4.
The
Alternative Available
“In
the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it,”
Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America.
Your
Excellency and Hon. Ministers, I pride myself in not being a mere criticizer,
but a person who also gives good – and in fact better – alternatives to whatever
is the object or subject of my displeasure. Hence, I
presented to Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka and the Ministry of Justice and
Constitutional Affairs as a whole, my own Bill that is comprehensive and
adequately fulfills the need for reforming and transforming legal education in
Uganda (draft 4 of my Bill is hereon attached for your ease of reference).
My
Bill addresses all aspects of legal education from accreditation, to admission,
teaching/instruction, supervision and examination. It goes a step further
providing for enrolment into legal practice after passing a pre-bar examination.
Although my Bill is not perfect, it nevertheless offers a decent/good start. It
stipulates a robust and smooth transitional arrangement that does not present any
serious fundamental challenge or leave questions unanswered, such as those in
AG’s Bill as identified above at pages 5-6, lines 103-128; instead it addresses
and takes care of them very well. Then, of course, my Bill does not aim to
victimize anyone in particular like AG’s Bill targets me as a person, seeking
to lock me out of legal practice forever. Yet Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka will have none of my Bill, preferring
instead his lousy piece of patchwork that is deficient for our needs. I
suggest he be fired from his position in the next cabinet because a government
chief legal adviser who cannot listen to good advice himself – and be seen to
do so – is a disaster.
So
what transitional plan do I suggest and present? Let us have a transitional period of four (4) years starting August 2026.
As I am well versed with the academic year of Makerere University, where I was
for my LLB studies, my proposed transitional plan is modeled on it, at least
for guidance or study purposes. Accordingly, the 4-year transitional plan
should be phased as follows:
|
Item
No. |
Duration |
Activity |
Implementer |
|
1. |
By July 2026. |
Cabinet approves the Bill, Parliament passes it into an Act, President
assents to it into law. |
Cabinet, Parliament, President. |
|
2. |
August 2026 to July 2027. |
Subsidiary legislation is made to operationalize the Act, as teaching
institutions establish mechanisms for imparting practical legal education and
training such as clerkship and moot court sessions, supervised by Law
Council. |
Minister for Education, Law Council, teaching institutions
(universities and others accredited). |
|
3. |
August 2027. |
3rd year students start undertaking mandatory
practical sessions, to be undergone as a must for two (2) years of study i.e.
in 3rd year and 4th year. |
Teaching institutions (universities and others accredited), Law
Council. |
|
4. |
May 2029. |
4th year students (finalists) complete LLB studies
and sit university examinations. |
Teaching institutions (universities and others accredited), Law
Council. |
|
5. |
September 2029. |
Law Council sets a national bar examination to be sat for by
persons stipulated in the Act. |
Law Council. |
|
6. |
December 2029. |
The Minister for Education fully repeals the LDC Act. |
Minister for Education. |
LDC
will remain operational during this transitional period, offering and equipping
practical, professional training to current university students and also absorbing
university leavers who may not have applied to join it or its former students
who failed the bar course. Although LDC is a despicably awful
institution that should have been got rid of years ago, it nevertheless ought
to be given an orderly exit for the sake of our cherished legal profession and
country. Don’t chase it out like a chicken thief.
5.
Conclusion
“Good
thinkers are always on demand. They rarely find themselves at the mercy of
ruthless people who would take advantage of them. Because of good thinking,
they rule/manage themselves well. These
people usually feel more inclined to add value to others through creative
ideas. Like every human being, every good thought has the potential to become
something great. These people think like
a man of action and act like a human being of thoughts, because they generate
productive thoughts. They take thinking as a discipline and act on their good
thoughts. They burn brightly, without burning out,” Prof. Edward J.B. Kakonge.
Mr.
President and Hon. Ministers, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka and I can work
together to develop and enrich my Bill, by him incorporating their ideas into
it (mine). Since I have the greater/more content that is required and I was the
first to propose a law, anyway, let him allow me capture and include their
thoughts into mine and then we meet halfway to reconcile them. I now have their
vision and views for bar course devolution. We should converge thoughts and
merge ideas.
But
if at all AG Kiwanuka finds cooperating and working with me reprehensible, then
since my proposed Bill is copyrighted, as indicated therein, for reasons
already given to him, meaning that infringers will be pursued, I am ready and
willing to surrender my copyright in the Bill so that then government may do
with it as it deems appropriate. Since I am giving good value, it is only
proper that I also be given good value in return. After all, as the saying
goes, one good turn deserves another. Government may, for instance, give me a
full masters scholarship (preferably at a Ugandan university) or a job or
money. Of these, a scholarship would be my most preferred choice. A Master of
Laws (LLM) or the Interdisciplinary PhD Programme in Social Studies (MPhil/PhD
in Social Studies) of Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) are notable
examples that quickly come to my mind. I am aware that Ministry of Education
and Sports as well as State House usually give out scholarships to people.
Please get me one in this coming academic year. Upon admission, I shall legally
surrender the copyright in my proposed Bill except for moral rights which,
under section 10 (3) of The Copyright and
Neighbouring Rights Act, Cap. 222
are not assignable to any person. Your Excellency and Hon. Ministers, I shall
use the knowledge and skills acquired from further studies to develop my
country more. Moreover, such a generous gesture from government will go a long
way to encourage and assure other people that once they do good things for
their country, the country will also appreciate and reward them. I think it is a
good way of promoting patriotism.
For God and my country,
Bakampa Brian Baryaguma
Mobile: 0753124713 /
0772748300.
Email: bakampasenior@gmail.com.
Web: www.huntedthinker.blogspot.ug.
Copy
to: Hon. Attorney General
Chairperson, Law Council
President, Uganda Law
Society
Secretary, Law Council
Director, Law
Development Centre
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