The Nation has lost a true patriotic citizen, the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago said just a few hours after the demise of Justice Kenneth Kakuru of Court of Appeal.
Lukwago said that he has been one of the few judges in the country who could not be intimidated in any way and in any form when it comes to justice and defending the constitution and rule of law.
“ Justice Kakuru went on record after his ruling in Mbale case where he ruled that removing the Age Limit from the Uganda’s 1995 constitution will be the last pillar and that the supreme law will now become useless and this was the epitome of his carrier in Judiciary.’’ Lukwago stated.
He adds; said that in Mbale when the opposition took government to court challenging the removal of the Age Limit article, Justice Kakuru deferred from other judges when in his ruling he first gave the history of the country’s politics and reminded those who shade blood in disguise of restoring rule of law and constitutionalism and that it was un constitution to remove such important pillar.
Lukwagoa also said that when the late Justice Kakuru was still a lawyer, he was an ardent advocate of environmental protection and human rights.
The Court of Appeal Justice Kakuru, 65, was pronounced and confirmed dead by Judiciary spokesperson Justice Jameson Karemani, Tuesday morning Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi were he had been admitted and he had been battling ailment related to cancer.
This even forced him to request for retirement from the judiciary in 2021 before reaching retirement age of 70 to manage his health.
Kakuru was the founder and Senior Partner of the law firm of Kakuru & Company Advocates, a Kampala-based law firm, established in 1987.
He established a reputation as an environmental rights attorney and an expert in public interest litigation.
He founded and at the time of his death still served as a non-executive director of Green watch Uganda, a non-profit environmental advocacy organization.
By George Bukenya