By John V Sserwaniko
Aged just 31 years, controversial city lawyer Male Mabirizi has shrewdly used the ongoing Constitutional Court hearing in Mbale to put to shame Kampala-based critics that have always treated him with contempt and ridicule. Because he is always in Court willing to relentlessly challenge anything, Mabirizi has always been dismissed for being very unserious. Some have gone as far as dismissing him merely as an idealistic young lawyer living in a utopia. But Alex, a court journalist who is one of those few that understood him correctly from day one, has always insisted that Mabirizi was full of substance and only lacked an appropriate platform to demonstrate his fantastic credentials as a lawyer. Alex must be having the last laugh because the ongoing hearing in Mbale has exposed to the world that Mabirizi was after all much better than many of us have always thought of him. “Media attention has always gone to the flamboyant lawyers who have money and good rides. Not many journalists will waste time focussing their cameras at Mabirizi because they fell for the prejudiced way lawyer peers always portrayed him,” says a court journalist that has always closely operated with Mabirizi. So litigious is Mabirizi you will easily mistaken him to be a court staff. For he is always in the corridors of Court following up on his numerous applications. He almost has a case, as plaintiff, before every judge and many judicial officers have indeed encountered him and suffered his wrath. When he recently objected to Justice Elizabeth Musoke being involved in the Constitutional Petition on grounds she had been a lover to D/AG Mwesigwa Rukutana and sired children with Hillary Onek, Mabirizi wasn’t being funny. He was just being himself: ever finding fault in others and having the guts to fearlessly speak out as much. Musoke isn’t the first judge whose conduct Mabirizi has dully objected to: many others have endured being complained about or reported to higher authorities (read PJ) whenever Mabirizi considered them unfit to hear his case. In the Kabaka case, which saw him drag Ronald Mutebi to court in an unprecedented way (challenging his authority on land and the way his BLB was squeezing the poor), Mabirizi objected to Justice Basaza on grounds she had previously trained and worked with a law firm that was defending the king in the same case. Because he is fearless, many disgruntled but feeble-hearted Ugandans volunteer information to him to act as a whistle blower on their behalf. It appears he always does his research because many of the complaints he brings out against judges have always turned out to be true. Sometime back Mabirizi had a dispute with his land lord called Shah who owns Span House where his money lending company was renting. Shah tried to improperly evict Mabirizi who fought back by going to court. The matter went before Justice Madrama and Mabirizi later on objected the Judge’s impartiality. This was after he got photographs of Madrama’s clerk Charles Ogunyi entering Mr. Shah’s office at a time he didn’t expect him to. Suspecting this had something to do with his case, Mabirizi protested and got Madrama out of his case. Mabirizi reported to PJ Yerokam Bamwine accusing Madrama of unbecoming behavior. He was one time rebuked off the advocates bar by Madrama and, being one you can’t step on and walk away with it, Mabirizi took the matter to the Constitutional Court and its still pending there. He accused Madrama of degrading and dehumanizing treatment. Mabirizi also one time objected to Justice Musota being involved in his case and the matter was transferred to Justice Margaret Oguli. Daudi Mpanga was the lawyer representing the other party and Mabirizi became uneasy finding Mpanga greeting Justice Musota. “He is one who knows his rights and will always exercise them. He is meticulous and pays attention to detail. He has always overlooked the so-called high flying lawyers who think he is being trivial. He will always exercise his right to seek a remedy,” said a court journalist adding that Mabirizi eloquently knows the Constitution the way he knows the back of his palm. This clearly is what Mabirizi exhibited during the Mbale proceedings on Tuesday, sparking instant acclaim by Ugandans on social media. Some have based on the clarity, precision and confidence with which he makes his submissions to liken his wit to that of legendary American scholars like Mike Rosa of California University. His submissions during the globally televised proceedings in Mbale have left everybody convinced that the hitherto uncelebrated guy is a very intelligent lawyer with a lot of future ahead of him. This too isn’t accident or something out of character except that Ugandans hadn’t yet had a chance to sufficiently appreciate him. “Its not out of character because Mabirizi has always been a very brilliant witty fellow. He has a good sense of humor, he is courageous and very intelligent. That’s why he was the best student in the country for the year 2006 UACE results,” said a high school OB. Mabirizi was at Kawempe Muslims SS where he scored 25 points. Equally intelligent Kampala Central MP Mohammed Nsereko is one of his predecessors at Kawempe Muslims. Though its true they know his capabilities having had him appear before them, the judges too must have been surprised with the authority and clarity of arguments with which Mabirizi submitted during the Mbale hearing sessions. Going by social media rankings, Mabirizi who is considered less qualified than all the other bar members in the ongoing hearing, did very well and his case was made in very clear terms (without any ambiguity) that even ordinary people got to understand what he was saying regarding the fatal procedural improprieties the Speaker tolerated as MPs rushed to scrap the age limit late last year. He was able to appropriately submit and make his case known on many things in such a very short time hence getting kudos from Ugandans across the globe. Some have gone as far as wondering why a guy so brilliant, young and energetic isn’t in Parliament. “Mr. Sserwaniko inform those raising such questions that some of us are in the reserve force. That’s why we aren’t in those positions (as yet),” Mabirizi said during an early morning phone interaction with this news website.
WHAT DRIVES HIM
Despite passing very well at the Makerere Law School during his LLB, Mabirizi determined never to become an advocate. “All I wanted is the legal knowledge to do my private business which I obtained at the LLB. My plan was to do business which I have succeeded at. By 2nd year my money lending business was thriving and I clearly chose business as opposed to being a practicing advocate,” Mabirizi told this writer sometime last year. But one wonders why he opted to drag the Law Council to court challenge its involvement in setting pre-entry exams for LDC. He says its something he considered unfair and challenged the Law Council in court “to benefit others who want to join LDC but are being locked out because of pre-entry exams.” Its in the same spirit that Mabirizi took the Kabaka and his BLB to court. “Not that BLB had encroached on my personal land or that of my family. Its the desire for Justice for all that prompted me to challenge them in court. There is nothing personal,” Mabirizi says adding if it was personal he wouldn’t have challenged the Kabaka in court because his agent/man (Kiwalabye Male) heading BLB is his (Mabirizi) Koobe clanmate and there are clan committees on which they both serve. Even within his Koobe clan, Mabirizi has sometimes been too controversial for his age. He some time back commenced proceedings in the clans court (Kkooti ya Kisekwa) challenging the wrong procedure that had been used to enthrone a clan head (Namwama by title). “Now you can’t say I act selfishly because for instance why would I fight a clan leader when I don’t even qualify to become the Namwama (Koobe clan head) because I don’t come from the lineage of the Koobe clan that the Namwama? For me its about fairness and acting justly. Justice is good for everybody and it has nothing to do with me personally,” Mabirizi told this reporter in an interview sometime last year. My mission back then was to deepen my understand of the man who had done what many considered abominable in Buganda- taking to Court the Kabaka who many consider to be infallible. Yet this ongoing Constitutional petition has helped Mabirizi in many more ways including demystifying Buganda/opposition militants that had based on his earlier positions to paint him a mole/an agent for President Museveni. “He supports none between Museveni and opposition. He actually despises politics. But he is personally complicated sometimes I even doubt any lawyer could stand him being his client. He is too much of a perfectionist and will be there disagreeing with his own lawyer all the time because the truth is that, even without LDC qualification, Mabirizi is too intelligent on legal matters. He is naturally very argumentative and independent in his thoughts. This makes him misunderstood by many for a Museveni apologist yet he is just being his own man. He will disagree with everybody because he is a never conformist and likes questioning authority,” explained an activist who has known Mabirizi since campus. “At campus he was very close to to FDC luminaries like Sam Ariho and this caused many to perceive him as FDC whereas not. The man is too inquisitive to belong to any party because he will question the status quo and all the bu-rules therein. I think that’s why he despises being represented by any lawyer.” In his own words, Mabirizi says he represents himself because he believes no attorney can represent him better than he can himself. “Its not because I have no money. Its because I believe none of them can put my case better than my own self. My friend I scored AAAA and I consider myself intelligent enough to legally represent myself and I have been winning in court against people you consider to be very good lawyers like Mpanga and I defeat them on procedure which you wouldn’t expect me to be very good at because I haven’t been to LDC,” Mabirizi told us last year when asked why he wasn’t getting a lawyer to represent him in the Kabaka/BLB case. Mabirizi also one time successfully challenged Commercial Division registrar Fabian Opefen whom he accused of seeking to recall/reverse his own order in the case of Span House owner Shah who had a dispute with Mabirizi over rent. Mabirizi shouted that this was irregular prompting the Registrar to call in policemen that violently threw Mabirizi out of court. Mabirizi says that pursuing public interest litigation like the Kabaka and the current age limit case is the best way he can pay back the Ugandan taxpayers who paid his tuition at Makerere law school where he was a government-sponsored student. “When I take the Kabaka to court its because of the millions of friends and ordinary people at the risk of being evicted and that’s what public interest litigation is all about. Its not that I had a piece of land that was being threatened. It was about public interest litigation. Its what pushes me into these things. Its not cheap in terms of money and time but that’s the least I can do for my country,” Mabirizi told this writer last year. One time in court during one of those many Erias Lukwago cases (as Lord Mayor), Betty Nambooze became uncomfortable and very apprehensive seeing a strange young man that was keenly following the case while noting down some key points. She mistook him for a Museveni spy and unleashed irate Lukwago supporters to beat him up thinking he was indeed a spy. Mabirizi eventually brought up a case against the Mukono MP. It remains unresolved.
BUT WHO IS HE?
Mabirizi was born in 1987 to Mohammad Mutumba Ganaffa and his mum (of Nsenene clan) is now deceased. She died in 1992 when Mabirizi was just 5 years. His daddy was a businessman in Rubaga where Mabirizi also grew up. Their ancestral home is in Mawokota Mpigi district. Mabirizi started his education at Nkokonjeru Muslim P/S Buikwe district and did his O’level at Crane High School in Natete where he scored 8 aggregates in the best done 6 subjects. These points were good enough to secure him an admission at Kawempe Muslim, which those days took only top cream. As a businessman, Mabirizi trades as a money lender under a company called MK Financiers based on Buganda Road where he relocated after falling out with Shah his former landlord at Span House. At Makerere, he was also a member of Nkoba Zambogo. And he is famously remembered for taking on what he called dominance of the students from the school of education (MESA) of the organization’s top executive positions. This was in the late 2000s whereby many aggrieved fellow law students supported his views but feared being blacklisted by Mengo: being seen questioning absence of transparency and democracy in a Mengo- affiliated student’s organization. In fact the positive noise and rubble-rousing Mabirizi single-handedly sustained prompted Mathias Mpuuga, who was then the Youth Minister at Mengo, to have a review of the Zambogo Constitution. He is very single and its not something he loses sleep about and when we asked him about this unconventional way of doing things, Mabirizi simply answered “I will marry when I want.” For comments, call/text/WhatsApp us on 0703164755!
