Professor Joe Oloka-Onyango | |
---|---|
Born | Joseph Andrew Oloka-Onyango 16 September 1960 |
Nationality | Ugandan |
Occupation(s) | Lawyer and academic |
Known for | Lawyer, Legal Scholar, Author, Human Rights and Social Justice Activist. |
Title | Professor |
Spouse | Sylvia Tamale |
Children | 2 |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Harvard Law School (J.S.D; LL.M) Law Development Centre (Dip. L.P) Makerere University (LL.B) [1] |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Constitutional law,Human rights,Refugee Law |
Main interests | Constitutionalism,Political governance,Human rights |
Notable works | When Courts Do Politics (Cornell University,2016),Battling over Human Rights:Twenty Essays on Law,Politics and Governance (Langaa Publishing,2015),Constitutionalism in Africa;Creating Opportunities,Facing Challenges (Fountain Publishers,2001),Ghosts &the Law |
Joe Oloka-Onyango is a Ugandan lawyer and academic. [2] He is a Professor of Law at Makerere University School of Law where he has also formerly been Dean and Director of the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC). [3] He is married to Prof Sylvia Tamale,also a lawyer,academic and activist. They have two sons;Kwame Sobukwe Ayepa and Samora Okech Sanga.
Oloka-Onyango studied Law at Makerere University and attained his post-graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (bar course award) from the Law Development Center in Kampala,before earning his Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees at Harvard Law School. [3] [4] He is a scholar of Constitutionalism and human rights in the African context. [4]
Prof Oloka-Onyango previously served as a member of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights,as UN Special Rapporteur on Globalization and Human Rights,as well as consultant to the United Nations Development Programme,United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization. [3] He also serves on the advisory or governing boards of non-profit human rights organizations in North America,Europe and Africa. [4]
He has been a visiting professor at various universities around the world,including Oxford,Cape Town and the United Nations University in Tokyo. In 2014–2015,he spent his sabbatical as Fulbright Professor at George Washington University (GWU) in the USA and Fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies (STIAS) in South Africa. [4]
Prof Oloka-Onyango's Professorial Inaugural Lecture,entitled Ghosts &the Law,contained a detailed analysis of the origins,manifestations and intricacies of the Political Question Doctrine in Uganda and its closely related co-concept of Public Interest Litigation and together,their impact on Constitutionalism,the Doctrine of Separation of Powers,enforcement of fundamental Human rights,judicial independence,the phenomenon of "Presidentialism" and other aspects of modern state life. Within this lecture,he also extensively reviewed the historic precedent in Uganda v Commissioner of Prisons,Ex Parte Matovu and its effects on Ugandan jurisprudence to-date. [5] [6]
On May 5,2016,he took lead when he made the inaugural staff lecture at the Makerere University School of Law,presenting a paper entitled "Enter the Dragon,Exit a Myth:The Contested Candidacy of John Patrick Amama Mbabazi". [7]
On May 9,2016,Prof Oloka-Onyango and 8 other law dons from Makerere University School of Law successfully filed an application before the Supreme Court of Uganda for leave to intervene in Uganda's 2017 Presidential election petition, Amama Mbabazi v. Yoweri Museveni &the Electoral Commission, [8] as Amici Curiae. This became the first time in Ugandan electoral history that the Supreme Court heard and granted an application for such leave. The nine law dons were;Oloka-Onyango,Sylvia Tamale,Christopher Mbazira,Ronald Naluwairo,Rose Nakayi,Busingye Kabumba,Daniel Ruhwheza,Kakungulu Mayambala and Daniel Ngabirano. As part of their submission,the law dons recommended to the Court the use of structural interdicts or supervisory injunctions to deal with the persistent disregard of its recommendations by the Electoral Commission and the State in matters of the electoral process. In its ruling,the Court stated that;
"We are satisfied that the applicants have proven record in the area of Human Rights,Constitutionalism and Good Governance. They are highly experienced and widely researched legal scholars in these and related matters as evidenced by the attached curricula vitae."
Prof Oloka-Onyango is an active litigant and has been involved in various cases of Constitutional importance and relevance to the Human rights field. He was the lead petitioner in Constitutional Petition No. 8 of 2014,"Oloka-Onyango &9 Others v. the Attorney General", [9] before the Constitutional Court wherein the Anti Homosexuality Act of 2014 was declared void. He was also one of the petitioners in Constitutional Petition No. 2 of 2003,"Uganda Association of Women Lawyers &5 Others v. the Attorney General" which successfully challenged the Constitutional validity of several provisions of Uganda's Divorce Act for being contrary to the Constitutionally guaranteed rights to equality of all persons regardless of sex and the rights of women. [10]
Some of Prof Oloka-Onyango's works include:
Apolo Robin Nsibambi was a Ugandan academic and politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of Uganda from 5 April 1999 until 24 May 2011,when Amama Mbabazi succeeded him.
The National Resistance Movement has been the ruling party in Uganda since 1986.
Sam Kahamba Kutesa is a Ugandan politician,businessman and lawyer involved in several corruption cases. By the marriage of his daughter Charlotte Kutesa Muhoozi with Muhoozi he is part of the inner circle of president Museveni. Kutesa was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet of Uganda,a position he held from 13 January 2005 and maintained through three cabinet reshuffles until May 2021. He was also the elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Mawogola County in Sembabule District. He was the President of the United Nations General Assembly during its 69th session in 2014–2015.
Makerere University is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning,first established as a technical school in 1922,and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today,Makerere University is composed of nine colleges and one school,offering programmes for about 36,000 undergraduates and 4,000 postgraduates. These colleges include College of Natural Sciences (CONAS),College of Health Sciences (CHS),College of Engineering Art &Design (CEDAT),College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies (CAES),College Of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS),College of Humanities &Social Sciences (CHUSS),College of Computing and Information Sciences (COCIS),College of Veterinary Medicine,Animal Resources &Bio-security (COVAB),College of Education and External Studies (CEES) and Makerere University Business School (MUBS). In addition,Makerere has onother campus in Eastern Uganda Jinja City.
Charles "Mase" Onyango-Obbo,also Charles Onyango Obbo,is a Ugandan author,journalist,and former Editor of Mail &Guardian Africa. He is a former Managing Editor of The Monitor,a daily Ugandan newspaper,former Executive Editor for the Africa and Digital Media Division with Nation Media Group. Considered one of the finest journalists in Africa,Onyango-Obbo is a political commentator on issues in East Africa and the African Great Lakes region. He writes a column,"Ear to the Ground",in The Monitor,a second column in the regional weekly The EastAfrican,and a third in the Daily Nation.
George W. Kanyeihamba is a Ugandan author,a retired supreme court Judge,former cabinet minister,member of parliament and was a chair of the Legal Committee of the Constituent Assembly that made the 1995 Constitution. He was appointed a member of the Supreme Court of Uganda in 1997 and retired in November 2009. Previously,he served as minister of commerce,minister of justice,and attorney-general,all in President Yoweri Museveni's administration. He holds a Ph.D. in law from the University of Warwick. In 2008,Warwick awarded him an honorary LLD.
John Patrick Amama Mbabazi,SC is a Ugandan politician who served as the ninth Prime Minister of Uganda from 24 May 2011 to 19 September 2014. He played an instrumental role in Uganda's protracted liberation struggle from several tyrannical governments (1972-1986) and is a founding member of the National Resistance Movement,the ruling political party in Uganda.
Sylvia Rosila Tamale is a Ugandan academic,and human rights activist in Uganda. She was the first woman dean in the law faculty at Makerere University,Uganda.
The Law Development Centre (LDC) is an educational institution in Uganda for higher learning that offers various legal courses ranging from one month to one year.
Jacqueline Susan Ruhindi Mbabazi is a Ugandan educator,politician and businesswoman. She is the wife of the former prime minister of Uganda,Amama Mbabazi. She also serves as the Chairperson of the Women's League in the National Resistance Movement (NRM),the ruling political party in Uganda.
Esther Damalie Nagitta-Musoke is a Ugandan academic,and served as the dean and acting principal of the school of law at Makerere University,in Uganda,for close to five years,from 2012 until 2017. She was preceded by Professor Ben Twinomugisha and succeeded by Dr. Christopher Mbaziira. She is also an Advocate of the Courts of Judicature in Uganda and partner in the Law Chambers of Mubiru-Musoke,Musisi &Co. Advocates.
General elections were held in Uganda on 18 February 2016 to elect the President and Parliament. Polling day was declared a national holiday.
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The Attorney General of Uganda is the principal legal adviser to the government of Uganda. The office of the attorney general is a cabinet-level government position in the country. The incumbent,Kiryowa Kiwanuka,was appointed on 8 June 2021.
Stella Nyanzi is a Ugandan human rights advocate,poet,medical anthropologist,feminist,queer rights advocate,and scholar of sexuality,family planning,and public health. She was arrested in 2017 for insulting the Ugandan president. In January 2022,she was accepted to live in Germany on a writers-in-exile programme run by PEN Germany,with her three children.
Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza is a Ugandan lawyer,academic and judge,who has served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Uganda,since 2015.
Solome Balungi Bossa is a Ugandan judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC). Prior to her election to the ICC,she was a member of the Court of Appeal in Uganda,which also doubles as the Constitutional Court in the Judiciary of Uganda. She was elected to a nine-year term on 5 December 2017 and was sworn in on 9 March 2018. Previously she was appointed to a six-year term on the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in 2014.
Peter James Nkambo Mugerwa was a prominent Ugandan lawyer. He served as Uganda's Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs under President Idi Amin from 1971 to 1973.
Digital constitutionalism is a concept used in the context of research investigating the impact of digital technology on constitutional values and principles. As for the notion of constitutionalism,this concept has not received a univocal definition,having been referred to a movement,a set of instruments and an ideology. The notion of digital constitutionalism emerged in the context of the digital revolution that characterised the first decades of the Twenty First century. Current research is conducted by scholars from various disciplines,including law,communication studies,philosophy and political science. It focuses on the instruments and actors involved in promoting constitutional values and principles which are fit for the digital age.
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