Justice Kenneth Kakuru of Uganda’s Court of Appeal, also the Constitutional Court, has passed on at the Aga Khan Hospital in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Justice Kakuru, who was aged 65, is said to have succumbed to prostate cancer.
Kakuru had written to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) asking to be retired early due to health complications. He told JSC Chairperson Justice Benjamin Kabiito that he did “find myself unable to continue performing my function as a Justice of the Court of Appeal” and that he had “taken the decision [for early retirement] in the interest of the Judiciary, my health and my family.”
Appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2013, he will be remembered for his dissenting opinion in the Constitutional Court ruling on the controversial Constitutional Amendment Act of 2018. He was the only one of the five-judge bench that dissented as his colleagues approved the amendment, allowing Gen Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni to rule beyond the age of 75.
Justice Kakuru ruled that “the entire constitutional amendment act is unconstitutional and therefore null and void, and all its provisions ought to be expunged from the constitution of Uganda,” further warning that “there is always danger that if the Constitution is not strictly complied with, our hard-earned democracy shall degenerate into authoritarianism which leads to totalitarianism and dictatorship.”
So, who exactly was this man?
Justice Kakuru’s father was Rev Eliakim Kamujanduzi, a man famous for his boldness. Kamujanduzi dared the Omugabe (King) of Nkore (Ankole) Charles Rutahaba Gatsyonga when he denied him holy communion at Ruharo Parish on grounds that His Majesty the King was polygamous.
Education
Born in 1958, Justice Kakuru attained his primary and secondary education in local schools before proceeding to study law at Makerere University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree.
Kakuru attained his Legal Practice diploma from the Kampala-based Law Development Centre and proceeded to obtain his Master of Laws (LLM) degree.
The judge also had a Master of Arts degree in Education Policy Planning and Development from Kyambogo University.
Family
In 1987, Kakuru married Winnie Ikiriza. The couple was blessed with three children: Sama, Tracy and Rose. Sadly, Ikiriza passed on in 2009. Three years later, in 2012, Kakuru married Charity Nankunda.
More on Kakuru’s career
Before his appointment to the bench, Kakuru was engaged in public interest litigation. He would team up with other lawyers to found the Kakuru & Company Advocates law firm.
He was also the man behind Greenwatch Uganda, an NGO advocating for environmental conservation and protection.
A member of the Uganda Law Society, the East African Law Society, and the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, Kakuru was also an associate professor at the Uganda Pentecostal University and an external examiner at the Law Development Centre.
