President Yoweri Museveni has met and held discussions with the family of the late Chief Justice of Uganda Benedicto Kiwanuka at State House, Entebbe.
The seven-member team was led by Ms. Imelda Kiwanuka, the late Kiwanuka’s elder daughter. Others were Ambassador Maurice Kagimu Kiwanuka and his wife, Rebecca Kagimu; Ms. Regina Kiwanuka and their children.
The President and the family discussed ways of accomplishing a number of projects set up in memory of the first Ugandan born Chief Justice who was appointed in 1971.
The President last Wednesday officiated at the commemoration of the fifth Ben Kiwanuka Memorial Day at the High Court grounds in Kampala where he explained that it was a mistake for Kiwanuka to work under President Idi Amin who was never trusted.
It is now 50 years ever since Kiwanuka was murdered during President Amin’s regime on September 21, 1972, after he was abducted from his chambers at the High Court in Kampala.
The whereabouts of his remains is still a mystery.
About Ben Kiwanuka
Ben Kiwanuka was imprisoned in 1969 by Obote’s government, but was one of 55 political detainees released by Idi Amin immediately after the coup that brought Amin to power.
Amin appointed him as chief justice of Uganda on 27 June 1971.
Kiwanuka soon came into confrontation with Amin’s disregard for the rule of law.
In the immediate aftermath of Obote’s 1972 invasion of Uganda, Kiwanuka was arrested at gunpoint by Amin’s men as he presided over a session of the High Court.
As well as countermanding from the bench some of Amin’s more draconian orders, Kiwanuka had also secretly agreed to support Obote’s return to power, with the proviso that Kiwanuka would be involved in constitutional reform.
Kiwanuka was killed on 22 September at Makindye Military Prison.
Western accounts described a prolonged execution which, according to eyewitnesses, involved Kiwanuka’s ears, nose, lips, and arms being severed, a disembowelling, and castration before he was finally immolated.
Other sources claimed that, rather than being tortured, Kiwanuka was personally shot by Amin.
Kiwanuka’s death was not acknowledged as an execution, with Amin instead publicly blaming it on Obote’s supporters and even launching a police investigation.
Kiwanuka’s killing was the first of a series directed against leading figures in the Baganda and Ankole tribes, aimed at curbing their power.
In 2018, a monument was dedicated to him at the request of president Yoweri Museveni.
