Determined – and brave – staff at Uganda’s Makerere University law school have done it again: they have incorporated a current ‘hot’ Ugandan human rights issue into an examination written last week. While it is common practice in many countries for exam questions to probe students’ understanding of the law by way of hypothetical cases that sometimes come close to real-life issues, Uganda presents more of a challenge. Last year, there was considerable fuss in some quarters over a similar constitutional law paper that also referenced a Ugandan flash-point, namely the behaviour of the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among. These allegations of serious corruption led to punitive steps against Among by the UK and the USA that now bar her travel to those countries. The Among-related exam question led to an inquiry called by the university’s vice-chancellor. But the law teachers have since pressed on, setting a similarly-styled exam this time round. Written last week, the exam paper consists of seven questions, from which students had to answer four, all of them testing the students’ knowledge of the constitution and the possible limits of constitutional litigation on current live human rights and rule of law issues in Uganda.
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On May 2, members of the public in Uganda read horror stories about the bodyguard of a prominent political figure. Abducted by the military in that country, he suddenly reappeared some time later on the social media page of President Yoweri Museveni’s son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is a military general and the head of the country’s defence forces. The general boasted of what had been done to the detainee while he was held in a basement at an undisclosed location. He said the man was captured ‘like a grasshopper’ and produced a trophy photograph showing the detainee, obviously in great physical and psychological distress, shorn of his signature big black beard.
On May 5, three days later, the abducted detainee, Edward Sebuufu, also known as Eddy Mutwe, was brought to the magistrate’s court, his poor physical condition clear to all in court. He was unable to walk unaided and showed clear signs of violent treatment. The court was informed that he is to be charged with aggravated robbery and he has now been remanded in prison. His lawyers have since claimed he was tortured daily and have detailed his claims.
On May 7, just two days further into the month, Makerere University law students writing their constitutional law exam had to deal with a hypothetical situation that closely followed aspects of this real life drama. They were asked to consider the legalities of the situation and what could be done in terms of the constitution.
‘Courts shouldn’t hear cases where suspects have clearly been tortured’
When Mutwe appeared in court on May 5, the torture he had endured was obvious to all, even leading the minister of justice, Norbert Mao, to say on television afterwards that courts should not hear cases in which suspects show signs of torture. He said the accused should be ‘discharged’ in such a case, and that there was clear and binding high court precedent to do so.
He said Mutwe was not detained by court order and had to be protected by the constitutional presumption of innocence. Further, Mao pointed out that the heads of prisons were not allowed to admit into prison anyone who was very sick or who ‘looks tortured’.
These are remarkable comments from the man who should give the lead when it comes to the government acting in a way that upholds the rule of law and court decisions. Given that Mao is an integral part of government, his remarks – even chiding the court for not discharging Mutwe on account of his condition – are another indication of just how obvious and serious the signs of Mutwe’s torture must be, and how shocking the level of impunity, apparently enjoyed by the military, has now reached.
Mutwe’s case referenced in exam question
Clearly the matter was also forefront in the mind of the law teachers who set the second semester LLB exams in principles of constitutional law at Makerere University’s school of law. It should have been in the minds of law students too. And it would have been to their advantage if they had been watching these matters closely, even researching the cases that Mao referenced when he quoted court decisions to the effect that people who showed clear signs of torture had to be ‘discharged’.
The text of the exam question that mimics the plight of Mutwe, names the central character as ‘Edo’, a political activist with the fictitious Independence Party of Uganda (IPU).
‘He has lately been quite vocal in challenging state excesses and has promised Uganda a future of milk and honey should IPU be successful in the forthcoming general elections,’ the question continues.
‘Edo is also a committed Rastafarian, who has grown his dreadlocks – as a sign of respect to Jah – since 2005. On the night of 15th April 2025, at about 11pm, five masked men stormed into Edo’s modest accommodation in Kawempe. They slapped him several times, in front of his wife and two children, before bundling him into an unmarked car and driving off to an unknown location.
‘On 20th April 2025, during an exchange on X, one Bubu, a colonel in the country’s armed forces, admitted to having custody of Edo saying, “I have that IPU fool here in my store. He is learning good politics and Christianity. We have cut off his wicked hair and he now prays properly.” He then posted a photograph of Edo, taken that day, showing that he had been shaven clean of all his dreadlocks and facial hair. The following day, Edo was produced before a magistrate’s court, charged with the offence of being a “rogue and a vagabond” and remanded to prison. During his court appearance, Edo walked with great difficulty, and bore visible injuries on his face, arms and legs.
‘Edo’s wife is severely distressed by these events, and turns to you for assistance,’ students are told. ‘Advise her comprehensively as to the legal position and remedies, if any, available.’
Students consider refugee law issues, state abductions
The other questions from which students had to choose included a problem for a ‘clerk’ at the offices of a refugee law practice in a fictional foreign country where the constitution and laws are directly equivalent to those in Uganda.
The situation that this ‘clerk’ must advise on includes a cross-border marriage that has resulted in divorce proceedings involving threats of female genital mutilation.
But there’s another problem in this hypothetical case that has become increasingly visible in real-life Uganda and about which law students should be thinking: people seeking asylum outside the fictional country are being smuggled back, thanks to the collusion of neighbouring states, so that they can be tried and punished in their home country.
Exam continues previous approach in setting constitutional problems
The academic furore that emerged over last year’s paper hasn’t disappeared: In March, Ugandan lawyer and researcher, Arnest Jambuka, wrote an article on academic freedom in Uganda, using the previous, controversial constitutional law exam question about the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, as a central issue.
Jambuka noted that after the paper was written, the vice chancellor, Barnabas Nawangwe, called a meeting to discuss the exam question that alluded to Among. That apparent investigation by the university itself was a move that caused a great deal of controversy among staff of the law school. Many said that even calling a meeting to discuss and investigate the exam paper would be retrogressive and undermined academic freedom.
Ultimately, however, the investigation cleared the staff who set the paper, finding that academic standards were not violated by the question asked in the exam.
In his article, Jambuka further speculates that since the exam was similar to those that had been set in the past without incurring any investigation, it could be that ‘external influences, possibly from the government, may be at play.’
As Uganda’s rule of law situation worsens, students need to develop expertise
Against this background of division among even some senior members of the law school, it is significant that the most recent exams repeat the exercise, without compromise. Once more, the examiners use fictionalised but nevertheless harshly real hypothetical cases for the students to confront against the background of their study of the constitution and key judgments. And again, students are asked to give considered opinions of what legal steps could be taken against key elements of government in Uganda.
Clearly, the questions are designed to make the students think, study the constitution creatively, and become familiar with the relevant judgments of the courts.
It’s crucial training for them: as the rule of law situation constantly worsens in Uganda, despite any counter-balance that might be provided by the constitution and court judgments, the students will need all the expertise they can muster when they begin work in Uganda’s real world.
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