Just In: Justice Ken Kakuru Is Dead

Justice Ken Kakuru of the Constitutional Court is dead. Kakuru lost the fight against cancer and passed away in the Aga Khan hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.

“He recently died in Nairobi. He’s been too ill,” the person claimed. Kakuru’s passing was confirmed by a second source in the judiciary, who added that the Judiciary would make a statement soon.

The 65-year-old Kakuru requested in a letter to Justice Benjamin Kabiito, the head of the Judicial Service Commission, that he forward President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni his application for retirement.

The judge explained that he wished to retire at 63 years old rather than the required retirement age of 70 for the Court of Appeal/Constitutional Court justices since he had been urged by his doctors to take a break.

Kakuru won the hearts of many Ugandans during the age restriction debate in 2018 when he issued a dissenting judgment and claimed that it was illegal for the members of the parliament to remove the age restriction cap for one to run for the presidency, the highest office in the nation, which was previously set at the age of 75.

“MPs lack any inherent potency. They hold authority that is owed to the people. The authority is delegated. The Attorney General made a false claim when he said that MPs could alter anything. It must be refused, and I do so as a result, according to Kakuru, who also criticized the attorney general’s arguments as being illogical in the petition that attempted to overturn the constitutional modifications.

Kakuru was a bold guy who would be lost for his love of democracy and the rule of law, according to some attorneys who have handled cases before him. Samuel Muyizzi Mulindwa, the attorney, praises Kakuru for being the first judge to state that Museveni is authoritarian and that we live in a dictatorship when seen in the appropriate context of his decision to lift the age restriction.

Another attorney, Steven Kalali, recalls Kakuru as a legend and a fierce defender of the rule of law who stood by his profession for all those years while still an advocate and on the bench.

“Most importantly, I honor him for the judgment he rendered in the well-known Togikwatako Mabirizi petition regarding the age cap as well as the most recent judgment regarding the annulment of section 25 of the Computer Misuse Act brought forth by Andrew Karamagi and Robert Shaka against the attorney general. As a supporter of the rule of law, I will always mourn his significant loss to defending our democratic values and upholding the Ugandan constitution because he was one of the important justices. Whenever he was on a panel hearing a petition, you could be sure that the decision would be just, Kalali said.

about Kakuru justice

The Rev. Eliakim Kamujanduzi, an elder and senior educator who denied the holy communion to Ankole Charles Rutahaba Gatsyonga at Ruharo parish, is the father of Kakuru, who was born in 1958. Most people believe that Kakuru may have inherited this tendency from his father.

Kakuru received his primary and secondary education at neighborhood schools in Uganda, the region of his birth in the southwest of the country.

He earned a Bachelor of Law from Makerere University where he studied law. Kakuru also held a master’s degree in law from the same institution, as well as a postgraduate certificate in legal practice from Kampala’s Law Development Centre.

He also held a master’s degree from Kyambogo University in the planning and implementation of educational policies. He has belonged to organizations like the International Bar Association, the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, the Uganda Law Society, and the East African Law Society.

He established Kakuru and Company Advocates, a law firm well known for its public interest litigation contributions to the nation’s environmental jurisprudence. He was renowned for his sense of humor when preside over legal cases.

At one point, multiple attorneys characterized him as a judge who you couldn’t go before and leave if you weren’t happy with his ruling. Kakuru’s spouse at the time was Charity Nankunda Kakuru, whom he wed on January 14, 2012.