Prof. Ngasirwa Patrick's Inaugural lecture 2046

There are few things one gets to achieve in their academic journey and an inaugural professorial lecture is one of those. The fact that each year is graced by one such lecture or at times none explains the difficulty with which it comes. I was lucky to finally have mine.

So this Monday afternoon 07/05/2046, I was set to deliver an inaugural professorial lecture at the University state of the art main hall. The preparations were in full gear and word had already made rounds that the great law don would finally be achieving full status of Professor. Beauty and The Law was the subject I had chosen to deliver on and had spent a pain staking 6 months preparing for this.
Fast forward the day had stealthily arrived with me hardly noticing. Eminent and distinguished people were expected to grace this particular occasion. At about 1:45pm students and invited guests started trickling in with many in high spirits. Members of the legal fraternity came in one at a time, those from other faculties also wanted to be part of this historic event. Different media houses had set camp at the place among others being France 24, BBC, CNN. At that point I noticed two prominent figures alight from the latest model of the Range Rover Sport. It was Justice Conrad Kimbugwe together with Justice Mark Mutambo who had both been recently appointed to the Supreme court and had handled the recently concluded presidential petition. We exchanged a few pleasantries and joked about the Amicus Curiae application they had rejected of which I was lead petitioner. Before long they were led to their seats, as more guests arrived at their convenience. Dr Sekamwa Rodgers who had just completed his PHD at Cambridge  university was up and about trying to make sure everything was going as planned, working closely with Prof Kangye Stanley who was chairperson steering committee for the event. I had also noticed as I stood at the entrance that Counsel Busobozi Wycliffe who was counsel in the Amicus application had entered through the other door and seemed not in mood to share any greetings with the justices of the Supreme court, I suspect because they had rejected his submissions in the application. He instead chose to seat next to Steven Nuwagira, a man who life had not been fair to. Steven had made many unsuccessful attempts at various political positions but to no avail. Ever since he had won the Guild race during our days at campus, nothing else had gone on to materialize for him. The latest blow was the just concluded presidential election where he managed to garner only a paltry 1.1% of the total vote. He had gone on to announce his retirement from public life. Many more distinguished guests kept taking their seats in the hall.
Time check 2.30pm, it was time for the function to start. The school of performing Arts which was in charge of the musical presentation started us off as we proceeded to make way into the hall. The entourage was being led by Prof Wadidi Frank who was in fact the first among us to deliver such a lecture, closely followed by Prof Kabuga Patience, Prof Nagawa Melissa, Prof Katumbire Hillary. Dr Kevin Jemba, Dr Khaddu Jeff, Dr Kasibante David, Dr Naluyima  and many other eminent law lecturers formed the entourage as well. It was visible from the group that women had gone a notch higher in the academic field as compared to us the men. Being the owner of the event I came at the tail end of the procession together with my lovely wife (name withheld on purpose). The main hall was brimming with people of all walks of life, students, politicians, public and civil servants, dignitaries. The music bellowed, we marched on, the crowd kept clapping and the cameras couldn't stop flashing, inside me I couldn't help but smile.

Soon after the anthems, Isabella Magina(a successful Attorney herself) who was the MC of the function mounted the floor and took us through a rollercoaster of the day's program. She then called upon the Vice Chancellor to officially open the ceremony. Prof Begumya Rushongoza wasted no time with formalities, he welcomed the guests in their distinguished capacities and thanked them for making it to the event. He reserved special recognition for Chief Justice Aaron Kaleba and the learned Attorney General Nyombi Solomon. He also didn't forget to recognise the presence of the Acting Chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission, Ahikiriza Benjamin.
Shortly after, the Principal School of Law was called on to introduce me and invite me to deliver the lecture. Dr Muhumuza Ivy strolled to the podium much to the amusement of her former classmates who had fond memories of her commitment especially to tasks entrusted to her. They could imagine how much Law School had changed especially under her stewardship. But before executing her duty at hand, she noticed that a very important man had just entered into the room and deemed it wise that he is brought to the attention of us all. Dr Ivy first introduced Ambassador Kansiime Drare who had recently been appointed to represent Uganda in Russia. His wife was conspicuously absent but we were later told that she had a judgment to deliver that day in the Supreme court of Nigeria. "Ladies and gentlemen gathered here today, the task before me is simple. I have the honour of introducing to you a man of great worth, a man who has achieved so much success in the area of the law, one who has amassed so much knowledge on the law. Prof Patrick started with a Bachelor's degree in Law here at Makerere, went on to do a Masters in Law at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, did his PHD at the prestigious Havard University..." At that point I woke up!!!

Democracy; a principle that never was

 One of the most astounding arguments I have ever made was that democracy is an illusory principle that doesn't exist. Over and over again I have emphasized that America, what many refer to as the free world and the leading democracy in the world is actually not. Many scribes and political pundits have often asserted that India and China are the biggest democracies in the world. It is true numbers don't lie but it is also true numbers don't measure a democracy at least in my opinion. While at Gettysburg many years ago, President Lincoln defined democracy as a government of the people by the people and for the people. President Museveni also has his version, he believes it is simply having the majority in an election. For starters I think there is no standard definition of democracy. What we have are beliefs of what a democratic world should be like. The Western world has chosen to tread its own democratic path and I think we ought to define ours too. Periodic elections is a step forward in building of a democracy but rigging these elections are four steps backwards. Granting freedom of expression is another leap forward but restricting and censoring the press is a huge leap backwards. These are the small things that our democracy can revolve on and of course not just limited to these.
Robert Michels in his book Political Parties makes a plausible argument about most representative democracies, that they tend to deteriorate towards an oligarchy and he calls this the Iron law of Oligarchy. In 1989, when Uganda first went to polls soon after NRM's capture of power, there was a huge sense of participation of the people, in fact it was a psephocracy in the making. The NRC elections had a prodigious impact on the country's democracy because they once again restored a sense of belief in their government, the people felt they were their own rulers and everyone could feel they were being represented.
Fast forward today, perhaps we have more leaders representing the people than we had in 1989, but the satisfaction and trust that the people felt then has long faded. I could bet we have at least a leader (self styled or genuine) in every household but the true embodiment of statesmanship has long eluded them, politics is only a game for survival now. It is regrettable to discover today that Uganda as a nation has succumbed to the Iron law of Oligarchy.
Adolf Gasser in his analysis of representative democracy finds that for a country to remain as a stable democracy, society has to be built up from bottom to top. Needless to say society has to be built up by its own people, those that later become the very leaders of that society. Gasser makes a rather intriguing argument when he says the people must also have power to defend themselves which means they should be equipped. I do not share the same school of thought with him on that because I believe that society is built by values and these values spring from beliefs. A society built on a solid rock is that which has values that they stand for, beliefs and practices that epitomize a united people. Perhaps one day when we re-discover our values, we could then begin treading the great path of moulding our own democracy.

Where did our values go to?

Earlier this week as we went about our normal course of business in class, one of our lecturers suddenly stopped and posed this question to us. "What is that one thing that we as Ugandans identify ourselves with, the value that we all stand for as a country?" As I rummaged through my mind searching for the answer, it suddenly hit me hard that there actually was none. As a follow-up to his question he implored us to stop and think about our people right from the president. "The problem with this country is that everyone is a liar, right from the president", he went on to say. Immediately my mind begun recollecting the various unfulfilled promises and pledges he had publicly made key among them being in 2001 when he expressly stated that what he was seeking for then was the last term in office but 15 years on, the status quo remains. I also stopped to think about the alternatives that we have been offered as a country, the most pronounced being Dr Kiiza Besigye. The two seem to have been cut from the same cloth for the story is no different. That is only a tip of the iceberg for we are now used to the constant screaming headlines about loss of billions of shillings, it is now part of us to expect a story about rape, about defilement, about robbery, this has come to define the society we live in.

But have you ever stopped and asked yourself what the problem is. We boast of a Christian populace of more than 80%, with at least a church in every neighborhood but is this what is propagated in our churches today? Certainly not! Our churches seem to be breeding very many Christians but without any Christianity, it is little wonder that we have very many sprouting churches based on material gaining. I for one think that first of all the moral fabric of our society has completely been eroded, we have degenerated our society to a point where morality plays second fiddle. If we are to re-instill values that we once stood for then that should be our starter. No society in the world boasts of values that they stand for without morals. Our grandparents continuously remind us of a time in their era when a man was always taken for his word. When it came to selling of land for example, you didn't need to sign anywhere as acknowledgment of sale but your word was your word, today they look back at those times with nostalgic feelings. Am at pains to admit the fact that today we have people who can sale their land to multiple buyers with each being given an assurance that he was the only holder of that land, today we have people who lie to make a living. In other words we have a people who cannot be trusted. Such is what our society has been relegated to. George Orwell once said that in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. What we  crave for now as a country are more revolutionary acts from our people.

A society whose moral fabric has broken down needs to be rebuilt by simply going back to the drawing board, to ask for those things that our ancestors did to preserve the standards of their society. If for example it needs people to be reminded that it takes a society to raise a child, that it requires a mother to be by her child as she moves through her stages of growth then that should be done. These are the simple things that we have continuously absconded from and believe me or not they continue to haunt our very being. We have children who grow up in a house as opposed to children being brought up in a home. Perhaps we need to know the difference between a house and a home, growing up and being brought up to know why we are the way we are!!