Constitutional Crisis at Judicial Conference

/1 Comment/in /by

Lake Victoria just after sunrise

In January of each year, the entire Ugandan Judiciary assembles at a Lake Victoria resort hotel for an full week of meetings and reports.  This includes about ten justices each from the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, about fifty High Court judges (trial level), and about thirty Registrars.  Also present are a few representatives of other law-based governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the Uganda Law Society.  This Annual Conference began on Monday with the President of Uganda showing up nearly four hours late in order to deliver the “opening” address.  The media reported Museveni as confrontational and somewhat dismissive.  At one point, he drew laughs of derision when he referred to former Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki as his “nominee” for the post of Chief Justice, which has been vacant since June of 2013 when Odoki reached the mandatory retirement age of seventy under Uganda’s Constitution.  Ironically, Odoki, himself was the primary drafter of Uganda’s Constitution.

Nonetheless, President Museveni reappointed Odoki to a two-year term as an “Acting” Justice on the Supreme Court, which is permitted by the Constitution, but then proceeded to further nominate him to fill the position of Chief Justice – a position for which he is ineligible due to his age – and over the firm objection of the Judicial Services Commission, the body tasked with forwarding judicial nomination recommendations to the President.  After President Museveni sent his nomination to Parliament for its approval, but prior to an up or down vote in Parliament, one of its members challenged the nomination’s constitutionality in the Constitutional Court, which is Uganda’s Court of Appeals.  The case was scheduled for argument before a panel of five appellate judges two weeks ago.  The advocate representing the objecting Member of Parliament is himself an aged-out Supreme Court Justice.  He first sought to disqualify two of the five judges, one on the grounds that she had previously ruled against Parliament on another controversial case (frivolous), and the other on account of his current multi-faceted role in the judiciary.

A brief bit of background is in order here.  In March of 2012, the Deputy Chief Justice, who heads the Court of Appeals, reached her mandatory retirement age.  Rather than appointing her successor then, President Museveni decided to wait, apparently because he knew the Chief Justice post would be vacant in June of 2013 with the retirement of Odoki, so the two top positions could be named together.  Consequently, the senior-most member of the Court of Appeals became the Acting Deputy Chief Justice.  In March of 2013, however, she died.  This elevated Justice Kavuma to the role of Acting Deputy Chief Justice, as he was the senior judge on the Court of Appeals.  Fast-forwarding to June of 2013, Chief Justice Odoki named Justice Kavuma Acting Chief Justice as his last act as retiring Chief Justice, or so it appeared.  This, of course, made Justice Kavuma the senior judge on the Court of Appeals, the Acting Deputy Chief Justice, and the Acting Chief Justice.

At the hearing two weeks ago, the lawyer representing the Member of Parliament challenged Justice Kavuma’s place on the appellate panel deciding the constitutionality of the re-appointment of retired Chief Justice Odoki on two somewhat inconsistent grounds.  The first was conflict of interest, alleging that he could not be impartial in deciding whether Odoki should take over the position Kavuma now occupies.  While a facially plausible argument, Kavuma has never been under consideration for the permanent Chief Justice position, so there really are no grounds for kicking him off the panel on this basis.

But the second challenge sent shock waves through the courtroom and spilled much ink onto the front pages of the local papers the next day.  The advocate forthrightly declared Acting Chief Justice Kavuma to be illegally holding that post.  He produced a copy of the letter from Chief Justice Odoki purportedly naming Justice Kavuma as Acting Chief Justice until such a time as the next Chief Justice would be appointed and confirmed.  So far, not a problem – everyone has that public document.  But no one had previously calculated the dates.

When reaching the retirement age, a judge has a three-month extension in which to complete written judgments and further wind up the judge’s work.  So three months after Chief Justice Odoki turned seventy, he automatically became a civilian.  Unfortunately, the letter from Odoki to Kavuma designating him Acting Chief Justice was dated three months and one day after he turned seventy.  No one had realized this until it became ground two for the motion to remove Justice Kavuma from the panel.

While this is a weak argument for removing Kavuma – it actually undercuts the conflict of interest argument if he is not actually the Acting CJ – its potential for destabilizing the entire judiciary cannot be overstated.  After briefly conferring, the five-judge panel denied the motion to dismiss the two judges, but granted the lawyer the rare right to immediately appeal this interim order directly to the Supreme Court before the Court of Appeals proceeding on the merits of the constitutional challenge of Odoki’s reappointment.  Odoki, of course, currently sits as an Acting Justice on the Supreme Court, so the constitutionality of his own reappointment is now coming before the court on which he sits.  In addition to potential chaos, this immediate appeal promises to inject many more months (perhaps years) of delay, meaning that the Ugandan Judiciary will be without a permanent leader for the foreseeable future.  It also means that the legitimate power of the Acting Chief Justice hangs under a cloud of uncertainty and skepticism.  Just how wide and deep that skepticism ran was anyone’s guess as the annual conference opened on Monday.

Late last week, one newspaper published rumors of a coming widespread boycott of the conference by the judges, and everyone wondered who would take the podium as the Chief Justice.  A collective sigh of relief was breathed when the conference opened without such a boycott and the Acting Chief Justice continued to assume and assert his leadership role, much to the consternation of the President, who pointedly warned the judiciary in his opening speech not to “provoke” him.  For now, this constitutional crisis seems to be bubbling just below the surface, though the cauldron continues to periodically spit.  On Thursday, the Principal Judge (third-ranking post) characterized the judiciary as “sheep without a shepherd” and the President of the Uganda Law Society referred to the situation as “the big elephant in the conference room.”

Shortly after the plea bargaining conference I was honored to keynote last Thursday, the lead prosecutor informed me that he had been asked to address the judiciary on day two (Tuesday) of the judicial conference on the subject of plea bargaining.  He had been allocated fifteen minutes to provide an overview and path forward for the plenary gathering.  Thursday’s conference had been sufficiently well received that he asked me to do an encore performance for the judiciary.  The problem is that my opening presentation went an hour on Thursday, so cutting it to fifteen minutes for Tuesday presented a challenge.

My portion was to be part of a three-presenter panel, the other two of which related to anti-corruption and sentencing guidelines.  Director Chibita’s introduction of me included telling the crowd about his trip to Malibu late last year to learn more about plea bargaining, and about me meeting Henry in prison, representing him in court, and sponsoring his education.  The latter point brought a vigorous show of appreciation from the judges.  But now I only had thirteen minutes.  In order to get through it all in the allotted time, I decided that not only would I need to whiz through several of the PowerPoint slides Susan and I had prepared, but that I needed to also skip most of the vowels in my speech.  At least that is how it felt.  It was a real high-speed chase, but I got out everything I wanted to say.

Following the third presenter on the panel – the Inspector General of Government – the Q and A/Comment session began in earnest.  Roughly half of the questions/comments related to plea bargaining, while the other half concerned the other topics.  After the allotted thirty minutes expired, the master of ceremonies for the day made an executive decision and cancelled the next one-hour session in favor of continued discussion, which occupied the next eighty minutes.  All of the feedback was positive toward the concept of reducing the substantial backlog in the criminal justice system through plea bargaining, though (as always) the devil will be in the details.  I am cautiously optimistic that things will begin picking up speed, though the transition period will take place over the span of years, rather than months.  Following the session, one of the three judges on the panel I appeared before in Henry’s case last March introduced himself to me.  We exchanged polite words, but I was unable to read anything into his demeanor regarding how he intended to rule and when.

In other news, our hopes of a reasonably quick diagnosis and treatment of Henry’s father at the Mulago hospital proved to be overly optimistic.  While he was admitted to the hospital late Tuesday morning, he wasn’t actually seen by a doctor at all on Tuesday, nor did he receive an ultra-sound or CT scan.  Given the uncertainty of the timing, Joseph took a bus home, but Henry stayed by his father’s side the entire day.

On Wednesday morning, I took a forty-minute flight to neighboring Rwanda to meet with the Chief Justice of the Rwandan Supreme Court.  For the last five years, two of our students have been spending their summer working for Justice Rugege, so it made sense for me to pop in for a visit while I was in town.  I enjoyed a lively discussion over lunch with this brilliant and wise jurist who studied law not only at Makerere in Uganda, but also earned Masters’ degrees in law at both Yale and Oxford.  He was teaching Constitutional Law in South Africa when the 1994 Rwandan genocide took place, and was summoned shortly thereafter to provide a stabilizing influence to the country as Deputy Chief Justice of Rwanda.

While we were eating at a hotel restaurant, he introduced me to the chief prosecutor for Rwanda, and we had a brief discussion about the potential adoption of plea bargaining in Rwanda.  Indeed, Chief Justice Rugege and I discussed numerous points of future collaboration/training that will be explored in the coming weeks.

After our lunch, I took a quick tour of the beautiful and clean capital city of Kigali and secured accommodations and a driver for our two students who will be spending eight weeks there this next summer.  The contrast between Kigali, Rwanda and Kampala, Uganda was sobering.  Following the 1994 genocide, the city and its infrastructure was rebuilt and order was restored.  The streets are clean and paved sans potholes, the motorcycle taxi drivers all wear helmets and numbered vests, and new construction abounds.  At the hostel where I secured housing for our students, I spent a few minutes talking to two young British women who have traveled the world with their jobs and they said unequivocally that Kigali was the safest city they had been in.

Throughout the day, I periodically checked in with Henry and learned that his father had finally been seen by a doctor.  The ultrasound revealed normal functioning of his pancreas, liver, and kidneys, though his gall bladder was inflamed.  While a follow-up CT scan had been performed, the results were not yet ready.

On Wednesday evening, I flew back to Kampala, then boarded a plane bound for Amsterdam, Detroit, and then LAX.  From takeoff in Kigali to landing in Los Angeles, the trip will take just over thirty-one hours.  As they say in the South, I am plum tuckered out and will be glad to be home with my family.

Thanks for reading along.

The rolling hills of Kigali, Rwanda

Makerere

/12 Comments/in /by

During the final 18 months of Henry’s nearly two-year detention in a juvenile prison in Uganda, he served as the “Katikiro” in the internal prison government.  Part of his responsibilities in this Prime Minister post included taking the juveniles who got sick to the local hospital.  It was there, watching the doctors treat the patients (often after excruciatingly long delays), that Henry decided he wanted to someday become a doctor.  After he was finally released, he enrolled in Bob Goff’s Restore Leadership Academy, where he excelled in the sciences.  For his final two years of secondary school, Henry transferred to the top science secondary school in the country.  He graduated in November of 2013 and is now awaiting his national exam results, hoping to score well enough to be admitted to medical school, which is a five-year university program following graduation from secondary school.  The top medical school in the country is at Makerere University in Kampala.

On Monday morning, Henry and I reported to Makerere Medical School for an appointment and tour that one of my judicial friends arranged.  We met with a lovely and kind administrator who connected us with a current medical student for an excellent and informative tour.  She answered every question Henry and I had, and even several we didn’t know we had.  Later that afternoon, we met with the Acting Dean of the Medical School to discuss Henry’s candidacy.  While the meeting was good and informative, it was clear when we left that so much is riding on his national exam scores.  As Henry is want to say, “we shall pray hard” for good results when they are released toward the end of February.

Between our two meetings at Makerere, we traveled to two secondary schools where Henry’s younger brother Joseph (two years behind in school) would like to complete his “A” levels – the final two years of secondary school.  His first choice is the school where Henry completed his “A” levels, so we ventured out to meet up with a physics teacher with whom I have become friendly and with the Head Teacher – the one making the final decisions.  Like Henry, Joseph’s educational opportunities will be largely determined by the results of the national exam he took after completing his “O” level education at Restore International.  Those results should be released in about two weeks.  We also visited another school that is his second choice, but it is a step below the school Henry attended.

We also had the chance to connect for lunch with a friend of mine from the court.  You gotta love the directness of Ugandans.  “Ahh, Jim!  You are fat!  What happened to you?”  Anyone reading this who can figure out an appropriate response to this should feel encouraged to send me an e-mail.

In Sarah’s defense, however, calling someone fat here is not as bad as in the States.  In some ways, it is akin to saying, “you have been eating well,” or “you have not been starving.”  The bright side is that I lost about ten pound in the month preceding my trip here, so she probably would have called me a hippo had I come a few weeks earlier.

Throughout the day, we received updates from Henry’s father as he made his way toward Kampala from Hoima.  As mentioned in yesterday’s post, he had been experiencing severe stomach pain and his eyes were quite yellow.  The doctor in Hoima was unable to diagnose the problem, so he suggested that Henry’s father journey to Mulago Hospital (depicted in Last King of Scotland) for a CT scan.

The kind administrator with whom we were meeting at Makerere on Monday morning was able to direct our paths so we knew where to take him.  As providence would have it, Henry’s father’s doctor was going to be at Mulago on Tuesday and promised to meet him there to brief the Mulogo doctor on the tests he had already performed.

So by late Monday evening, Henry’s father had arrived via bus and was staying with some relatives just outside of Kampala.  On Tuesday morning, I needed to head to Entebbe to speak on plea bargaining to the entire Ugandan Judiciary, so Henry would assume responsibility for getting his father admitted to Mulago and examined.

Before we went to bed on Monday night, we had a one-hour Skype with an eighth-grade class in Quincy, CA.  I got to know the teacher, Anna Shea, through some mutual friends.  She had been following this blog and knew all about Henry and his family.  After one thing led to another, she and her class are now reading the manuscript Henry and I are putting together about how meeting each other dramatically changed our respective lives.  Since I was going to be with Henry, we arranged to have a live Skype call with her students so they could put faces with names and stories.  Both sides of the call enjoyed the opportunity to share each other’s lives, even if only for an hour.

The next post will discuss the opportunity I had on Tuesday to participate in Uganda’s annual Judicial Conference and will provide an update on Henry’s father.

Back to Hoima

/1 Comment/in /by

On Sunday morning, I was up early and excited about my first time back to Hoima since we surprised Henry’s family with the delivery of nine cows, replacing those they lost while Henry, his brother, and their dad were in prison awaiting trial for a crime it was later proven they had nothing to do with.  One of the primary reasons I was excited to reunite with Henry’s family was finally getting to meet his little brother, who surprised everyone with his arrival just over one year ago.  After his birth, there was a minor crisis regarding his name – the family refused to name him, insisting that Joline and I do the honors.  Not wanting the boy to be left with only a symbol for a name (a la Prince), Joline and I ultimately chose to name him after a King.  He goes by Josiah, but his full name is James Josiah.

What I wasn’t looking forward to was the nearly four-hour drive on an undivided thin strip of asphalt that masquerades as a two-lane highway.  With scores of pedestrians, swarms of bicycles, herds of goats, and barreling semi-trucks, the ride is never, well, dull.  When I lived here in 2012, I guess I grew accustomed to the greatly diminished distance between and among cars and other moving objects.  On the bright side of things, I got an aerobic workout on the way because my (massive, rippling) muscles flexed every minute or two as my NASCAR-ain’t-got-nothing-on-me driver deftly maneuvered in and out of harm’s way like it was his job.  I guess it was.

We arrived just after noon and had a hug-filled reunion.  At least most of us did.  Josiah, who had just started walking, though fairly unsteadily, broke into a dead sprint in the other direction when he saw me.  While my baby-frightening cold sore (finally starting to abate) could have, in and of itself, done the trick, all agreed it was the entire package that made him shriek and wail like he had seen a ghost.  Indeed, he had.  I am the first mzungu (white person) Josiah has ever seen.  And it scared the living dung out of him for all but a few moments of the 90 minutes I was there.

My wonderful wife planned ahead and bought Josiah a Children’s Bible and inscribed a blessing inside.  Before I left home, she had wrapped it in birthday paper, another object Josiah had never seen.  During the brief moments while he tore it open and examined the contents, he forgot he hated me.

Josiah temporarily distracted by his Bible

A short while later, he vividly remembered.

Eager for his release

Before leaving Hoima, Henry and I revisited the location of the shallow grave in their garden formerly occupied by the families’ herdsman that catalyzed our unlikely friendship.  It reminded me just how creative God can be as he interweaves the tapestry of our lives with those near, and not so near, to us.

Henry, his younger brother Joseph, and I said our goodbyes and hopped into the car and headed back to Kampala.  But not before I learned that Henry’s father was experiencing what seemed to be some potentially serious health problems, likely emanating from his liver.  Fortunately, an appointment Henry and I had the next day proved to be divinely scheduled.

Back in Kampala, Henry and I took Joseph to his first-ever mall and showed him a plethora of modern appliances he had never seen before.  “What does this one do?” played on a seemingly never-ending loop.  We Skyped with Joline and the kids before turning in.

The day before, I had weaned myself off of ambien as I finally adjusted to the eleven-hour time difference.  But Joseph was fighting a losing battle with a deep chest cough that I knew would keep me up all night.  At least that is how I rationalized my resumption of my heaven-in-a-bottle (non)addiction.  Next thing I knew, it was Monday morning, which meant a day full of visitations to Henry’s and Joseph’s dream schools.

More on that tomorrow.

Reuniting

/0 Comments/in /by

Just under a year ago, Pepperdine hosted an international conference focusing on the ethics and advisability of Inter-Country Adoption (ICA).  This topic had hit my radar screen in late 2011, just before my family moved to Uganda in January of 2012 for six months.  A close friend introduced me to an American family who had been denied legal guardianship over an orphan girl badly in need of a family.  After meeting with the family and learning their plight, I became involved in the appeal in the case through consulting with the Ugandan attorney representing them.  This involvement, in turn, crossed my paths with a British man living in Uganda who, along with his lovely wife, poured their heart and soul into securing Ugandan families for Ugandan kids in orphanages, mostly through reuniting the kids with their extended families and economically empowering the families to take care of these kids.

While the appeal was ultimately successful, my numerous conversations with the American family, the Ugandan attorney, and the Brit opened my eyes to the deep complexity of ICA I had never realized lurked beneath the surface.  The intensity of commitment of the American families, usuaully driven by an abiding conviction that God was directing their efforts to provide a home to institutionalized kids, was humbling an inspirational.  No less humbling and inspirational, however, was the intense commitment, driven by an abiding, faith-filled conviction that the availability of ICA directly led to documentable horrible decisions by Ugandans, including the falsification of death certificates, the coercion of young mothers to abandon their babies to orphanages involved in ICA so the children could have a better (Western) life, and the outright sale of children to those who could get the kids adopted to Western families.

No one on either side of this heart-breaking debate seems to dispute that both really good and really bad things are happening in the ICA realm.  The quibble is with percentages of each outcome.  This debate led me to suggest and assist in organizing the ICA conference in February of 2012.  Among the dozens of participants in this conference were (i) the Ugandan attorney representing the American family in the appeal, and (ii) the Brit with whom I had become quite friendly.  Both stayed with us in Malibu during the conference.

On Friday, I had a chance to reunite with each of them, though separately.  I had breakfast with the Brit and his lovely wife and so admire the dedication they have to intra-country solutions to the orphan challenges faced in Uganda.  They receive intense and personal criticism from all quarters, some of whom see them as a roadblock to ICA, while others complain about their openness to ICA in appropriate cases.  Yet they are here working tirelessly, day and night, on behalf of the lonely children of Uganda.

My visit with the Ugandan attorney was mostly social, but he also offered some words of advice for me to pass along about a family’s situation I became aware of just recently.

I also had a chance to meet up with one of the judges who recently visited Pepperdine, who has recently been reassigned from the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court to the Family Division.  Several of our students have interned for her in the past, and she expressed a desire to have a student intern with her at the Family court this summer.

Following my meeting with her, Susan Vincent (Pepperdine Nootbaar Fellow) and I met with representatives of the Uganda Christian Lawyers’ Fraternity, Uganda Christian University, and Aaron (Sixty Feet legal intern) to discuss the next iterations of J-FASTER – the juvenile justice program that is moving kids through the judicial system at much more palatable rates than in the recent past.  Pepperdine is blessed to work with such dedicated and competent partners in our quest to serve the imprisoned juveniles of Uganda.

On Friday evening, Susan, Aaron, and I had dinner to with two Americans working for the U.S. State Department.  One of them lives here in Uganda and spends his days training Ugandan police officers in investigative techniques, and the other oversees from Washington, D.C. numerous projects around the world designed to promote the rule of law.  I had met a couple times before with the one living in Uganda, and they were eager to receive an update on our work on juvenile justice and plea bargaining.  We also sketched out some tentative plans to work a little more collaboratively in the future.

I spent a good portion of Saturday with Sixty Feet folks.  As I have written about previously, Sixty Feet is an Atlanta-based non-profit doing transformative work on behalf of imprisoned juveniles and abandoned children in Uganda, providing medical aid, counseling, material needs, and whatever else is needed.  They also have generously funded the financial costs associated with J-FASTER.  Each time I meet with them, I learn of additional projects they have undertaken to improve the lives of these kids who are so needy in so many ways.  A team from North Dakota had just landed the night before and was gearing up to spend the week doing much-needed repairs and construction projects in the remand home and prison in the Kampala area.  It is inspiring to see working people dedicate their own hard-earned money and God-given talents half-way around the world to assist those in need.

Saturday evening was spent with my closest friend in Uganda, Justice K, and his family.  I learn so much about Ugandan culture and life from Justice K each time we are together.  He is great man among great men and women in Uganda’s judiciary and is an excellent liaison for the Pepperdine program.  We had the chance to dream bigger dreams about the assistance Pepperdine can provide to the judiciary in the short- and long-term future.

Justice K and his law professor wife, Winnie, are expecting #3 in just over a month
Justice K, Susan, and I at Justice K’s House

Sunday morning, I am heading north to spend a few hours with Henry and his family before returning to Kampala with Henry for a tour of Makerere Medical School and a meeting with admissions officials to discuss the possibility of Henry enrolling there in August.

Obliterating Protocol

/2 Comments/in /by

Though Uganda is still a “developing country” by comparative world standards, its protocols and formalities are quite complex and exacting.  There is a particularized and expected method and order of introductions, of seating arrangements (even when riding in a car), and a manner high-ranking officials should be addressed and greeted.  This can be a minefield for the uninitiated.  On Thursday, I lost both of my legs, one arm, and an eye when I executed a cannon-ball dive onto a protocol mine.

This, of course, comes as no surprise to those who know me well.  I can be as dense as a pressurized slab of granite.  Fortunately, I was given the chance to demonstrate the depth of my obliviousness on Thursday to a packed ballroom of judges and lawyers.  And boy did I deliver.  The center fielder didn’t even take a step back as he watched my home run ball exit the stadium over his head.

The morning had started off promising enough, though about four hours earlier than I was hoping.  I am playing a losing game of hide and seek with Mr. Sandman.  Since I was already up, I got in a mini-marathon on a treadmill in my hotel.  I was drenched in sweat and breathing like a pneumonia-stricken asthmatic with only one lung, but I soldiered on and completed the entire mile, shattering the ten-minute barrier like it was merely a suggestion.

On my way to the conference hotel for the plea bargaining presentation I was to make, I stopped off at the High Court and delivered some American chocolates to the Criminal Division staff.  I have worked hard to cultivate the Pavlovian response I trigger when I walk in to the Registry.  Professor Jim = sweets.  There are many ways to engender loyalty in those around you.  Strength of character, fulfillment of promises, magnetism of personality, chiseled physique, chocolate.  Only the latter travels well in a suitcase.

While at the Registry, I also met with the current Registrar – the person who schedules the court sessions (including for juveniles).  He has proven to be a reliable advocate for the kids, but I learned he is being transferred early next month to a different division.  Back to square one.  This is one of the most frustrating parts of operating within the judicial structure here.  Personnel, including judges, are often shifted from one division to another just as soon as they become settled and efficient in their responsibilities.

At the conference hotel, Susan Vincent (Pepperdine alumnus and Nootbaar Fellow here in Uganda for a year) and I had lunch with the DPP Director Chibita (lead prosecutor for the country) and Justice Mukasa (head of the Criminal Division of the High Court).

Wisely, Director Chibita scheduled the conference to kick off with a 12:30 lunch.  In Uganda, start times of conferences are too often seen as opening offers in an arrival-time negotiation process.  But if one is incentivized with a spectacular buffet to arrive on time . . . things are different.  As Dean Ken Starr used to say, “While it may be true that you can’t herd cats, you can move the food.”  So true.

Accordingly, by the actual start time of 2:00 p.m., all sixty attendees were in place in the ballroom.  All but one, that is.  Protocol dictated that a head table was placed in the front of the horseshoe-shaped seating configuration where protocol also dictated that Director Chibita, Principal Judge Bamwine (in charge of entire High Court), and I, the main presenter, would be seated.  Protocol further dictated that Director Chibita would welcome everyone and introduce the Principal Judge who, according to Protocol, would deliver an initial address and then welcome me to the podium.

Unfortunately, official business detained the Principal Judge back at the court, so at 2:00 p.m., we had a problem.  Director Chibita brings a trains-run-on-time breath of fresh air to his position, so he decided we should get started and that I would simply pause when the Principal Judge arrived.  Perfectly reasonable and sensible.  The problem is that this put the microphone in my hands when he walked in, which meant that I would need to observe the proper protocol in the transition to his opening speech.  The block of granite resting on my shoulders failed to register this as a potential problem.

Things kicked off with the microphone being passed from person to person around the room for individual introductions.  In the audience were about thirty seasoned prosecutors, ten High Court judges, several top officials in the Uganda Law Society (governing body for lawyers), and a smattering of other governmental officials and lawyers.  Following a warm introduction of me by Director Chibita (which briefly traced my history with the judiciary, including mentioning my appearance in the Ugandan court of appeals as an advocate in Henry’s case (more on that here)), I was off and running.  Susan Vincent and I had been allotted two hours, the first of which was to be a presentation on the nature and benefits of plea bargaining in the criminal justice realm, and the second was slated for a guided discussion of the topic.

Untethered to the podium

 

With Director Chibita at the head table

I began by sharing my love for Uganda and its culture, and by tracing the development and depth of the relationship between Pepperdine and the Judiciary.  About halfway through this opening ten-minute segment, I spied with my little eye the Principal Judge enter the back of the room with his bodyguard.  Now, he has literally just stepped into a crowded ballroom not knowing exactly who was there, not knowing what protocols had already been observed, not knowing where we were in the scheduled agenda, and not knowing what had been decided with respect to when he would present his opening address.  With all the sense of a developmentally delayed toddler, I simply finished my sentence and declared, “looks like the guest of honor has arrived.  Welcome Principal Judge Bamwine” and then proceeded to offer him the microphone.

Even as I write this I am shaking my head.  What was I thinking?  Justice Bamwine would have been well within his rights to take the microphone and club me with it like I was the proverbial baby seal.  (Wait, was that not politically correct?)  Instead, he just raised his eyebrows and gave me an ever-so-slight shake of the head.  Fortunately, Director Chibita came to the rescue and gently suggested that I finish my overview of the relationship between Pepperdine and the Judiciary before I formally introduced Justice Bamwine.  Hmm, good idea.  Why didn’t I think of that?

From that point (just south of the Mariana Trench), things took a decided turn for the better.  I recovered from my protocol obliteration and even managed to improv a reasonably good introduction of the Principal Judge, which included a PowerPoint slide picturing him at my house taken a couple years back.  By the time he took the stage, he had been briefed by Director Chibita on where things stood and who was in the room (important, because protocol demands welcoming them in the proper order and with proper titles).

After his speech about the judiciary’s commitment to adopting plea bargaining, he kindly welcomed me back to the podium.  We then transitioned to Susan’s portion of the presentation, during which she gave an excellent overview of the nature and prevalence of plea bargaining around the world, including its obvious benefits.  I then received back the microphone, but promptly ditched it.  I am used to speaking to large crowds (of students) in larger rooms without a microphone, and they confirmed they could hear me just fine.  Though I didn’t seek confirmation, I am confident they could all also see what appeared to be a small animal burrowing into my lower lip.  As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I am nursing a baby-frightening cold sore to adulthood at just the right time to draw attention away from the substance of my talk.

Fortunately, the rest of the presentation went entirely according to plan.  The audience was engaged and embraced the ideas we conveyed.  The question and answer session was vibrant and probing, full of energy and enthusiasm to take this important step in the delivery of justice to the incarcerated in Uganda.  Director Chibita closed the gathering with a rousing and persuasive call to action.  It was all smiles when the curtain fell.

Afterward, they presented me with a beautiful framed painting entitled “The Pearl of Africa,” named after the moniker Winston Churchill bestowed on this majestic country.

Before I had begun my speech, I had noticed a familiar face in the crowd.  It took me a moment to place it, but when I did, the memories flooded back to last March when I argued Henry’s case in the court of appeals.  In the audience was the prosecutor against whom I had argued the case.  She had done an excellent job, but we really hadn’t had the opportunity to talk either before or after the argument.  So I tracked her down after the conference and discovered how delightful and kind she is.  We had a wonderful chat about plea bargaining and about Henry’s appeal.  Incidentally, we are still awaiting the ruling.  She shared with me her prediction on the eventual outcome of the appeal, but that moment will remain private.

I fought hard to stay awake until 10:00 p.m. so I could get a normal night of sleep, but it wasn’t to be.  3:20 a.m. beckoned to me like we had a long-scheduled appointment.

Friday is packed with meetings with old and new friends, both Ugandan and American.  More tomorrow.  Thanks for following along.

Getting Revenge in Uganda

/3 Comments/in /by

 

In Uganda, when someone extends to you warm hospitality, you are obliged to “get revenge” by reciprocating.  During the late October visit of six members of the Ugandan Judiciary to Pepperdine, they spoke often of “getting revenge” when I returned to Uganda.  Over the next seven days that I will be here in Uganda, I look forward to reconnecting with old and new friends.

October’s visit included the Acting Chief Justice of Uganda, the Director of Public Prosecutions (head prosecutor for the country), and several other judicial leaders.  Over the course of their jam-packed week, they met with professors, federal and state judges (both trial and appellate), federal and state prosecutors, the FBI, the LAPD, and lots and lots of students.  Highlights included insightful visits with Los Angeles District Attorney Lacy and US Attorney Birotte.

Group photo with LA DA Jackie Lacey
Conferring with US Attorney Andre Birotte

The judges capped off their intensive week of plea bargaining study with a trip to Disneyland and the celebration of Herb Nootbaar’s 105th birthday party.  Herb is the benefactor for the Nootbaar Institute for Law, Religion, and Ethics under which our Global Justice Program operates.

Following this visit, DPP Director Chibita invited me to come and give a talk to his deputies and others about the implementation/expansion of plea bargaining into the adult realm in Uganda, following on the heels of the successful roll out in the juvenile realm while I was living in Uganda in 2012.  That presentation takes place later today (Thursday), and should involve a vibrant and productive discussion.  They truly want to deliver top-quality justice to the imprisoned and it is an honor to be asked to offer them encouragement.

As usual, the flight over was exhausting, especially since the night before was so short.  For the second time in my twelve trips to Uganda, my recalcitrant computer decided to pin the needle on my blood pressure the day before I boarded the plane.  On Sunday, I acquired some sort of computer virus immediately after visiting a Uganda news site.  This left me playing a losing game of whack-a-mole with my computer screen.  Every few seconds, my virus software would tell me that it detected an intruder.  The software then sheepishly confessed its impotence to repel the threat.  Then, ten seconds later, the software would heroically proclaim it had cleaned my computer of the virus.  Rinse and repeat ad infinitum.

In response to my pleas for help, the Pepperdine IT guys rallied in support, configuring a replacement laptop for me late into the wee hours of Monday morning while I sat on hold with the Dell support line for three and half hours before finally giving up.  On the plus side, I learned a few new catchy (East) Indian songs Dell was kind enough to loop for me while I waited.   On the minus side, we only had time to transfer a small portion of my computer files to the new laptop before I boarded the plane, and there was no extra battery for this new computer, drastically limiting my productivity on the long flights.

My itinerary took me through Amsterdam again, but with only a one-hour layover, I didn’t have a chance to re-charge my battery.  I prayed to the baggage gods that my luggage would make the transition.  Fortunately, the real God took it upon himself to intercept – and grant – my prayer request.  I am now 8 for 12 in the baggage-arrival-with-me department on my trips to Uganda.

I made it to my hotel just before midnight, gobbled a handful of ambien (just kidding mom, I only took the recommended dose (at least as far as you know)), and tried to get adjusted to the eleven-hour time difference.  Didn’t work.  At 4:50 a.m. Wednesday morning, I was wide awake.

Wednesday was a day of meetings and preparation for Thursday’s presentation.  Along the way, I made sure to visit the two malls about which multiple terrorist warnings were issued late last year following the massacre in Kenya.  This was not intentional, but necessary.  Private security was in full force, though it only took my usual smart-aleck comment while in the passenger seat of a taxi to get us waved through.  The security guard, however, got her revenge when she noticed the cold sore I am carefully incubating on my lower lip.

Me: No weapons today, ma’am.  And we did not bring any bombs either.

Guard: (Smiling) That is good, sir.  What happened to your mouth?  Did you try to eat your lip while chewing your food?

Good thing I learned the Luganda translation of the B-word while I was living here.  I let her have it.  That is, if she can read minds.  I suspect she can’t because she allowed us to pass.

While at the mall, I had a chance to get my internet stick (wireless internet via the cell phone lines) connected to the replacement laptop, and had coffee (diet coke) with an American who is encountering some difficulty in a worthy project she is trying to accomplish here in Uganda.  She and her family are an inspiration – following all of the rules and trusting that God’s plans are better than their own.  I offered her some encouragement and shared with her some of my experiences, but I fear my contribution to her cause will be limited to prayers on her family’s behalf.

Wednesday night’s sleep was rather like trying to do a layup over LaBron James.   He knocked my stuff into the bleachers.  I went to bed at 11:00 p.m. and was wide awake at 2:50 a.m.  There is something about Africa and sleep that eludes me.

This next week holds the promise of more progress on lots of fronts.  I will endeavor to provide daily updates, and will try to keep them reasonably brief and informative, sprinkled with some humor, if possible.

Jim Awarded International Lawyer of Year

/2 Comments/in /by

Please allow me to announce the good news that Jim was awarded the 2013 Warren Christopher International Lawyer of the Year Award by the California State Bar for his work in Uganda with the judiciary to help juvenile and adult prisoners receive access to justice in a timely manner.  The award ceremony, on October 12, was held in San Jose and was attended by many California lawyers interested in international law.  We were pleased to be joined in the celebration by some of our family, by Pepperdine School of Law Dean Deanell Tacha, and by a couple of law alumni.

Jim receiving International Lawyer of Year Award

 

Joline's parents Mike and Trellys and Jim's parents Rosella and John

Julie, Joline, and Jessica

Jim's brothers John & Jerry

Pepperdine School of Law Dean Tacha & Jim with award

 

Jim was able to share with the audience the story of how he got involved in Uganda in 2010 and how the justice system has changed in Uganda since then because of the work that he has done with the help of Pepperdine students, professors, and alumni.  It was an emotional speech which affected many in the room, as Jim talked about how lives are changed, not only of the prisoners who receive help, but also of those who go to help.  Others who spoke that night about Jim’s service to Uganda and offered congratulations were law school alumni Brent Caslin and Eric Hagen, who nominated Jim for this award after accompanying Jim on a juvenile justice trip to Uganda in 2011 and observing first-hand the good work Jim is doing, and Dean Tacha, who plans to make a trip with Jim to Uganda next year.

Jim sharing his story

Brent congratulates Jim

Jim, Joline, & Eric

The International Lawyer of Year Award

Jim was very surprised when he was told that he would be given the award.  His work in Uganda has never been about recognition, but simply about answering the call to serve.  It was a great honor for him to receive this award and to be able to share his story with others.  It was a great night for us, for Pepperdine, and for encouraging others to go out and serve.

Trusting God in the Storm

/10 Comments/in /by

Hey, guys! I haven’t posted anything in while, so I thought that I might as well blog now. This school year has been pretty good so far. I’ve had a lot more homework than I expected, but I’ve been able to get it all done. Near the end of the summer, I started having some doubts. At first, I just wasn’t feeling God’s presence, but then it got worse.

In the beginning of the school year, I was trying to pretend like nothing had happened. I was trying to live like everything was normal so that no one knew anything was wrong. I didn’t want to admit it, because that would make it real. For me, telling someone didn’t seem like an option.

Then, it got pretty bad. I was upset and confused because I had no idea what God was doing. I didn’t feel like he was real. That was REALLY scary for me because I had only doubted God once before, and that doubt dissolved within a few days. I was scared because I had always felt God was right there beside me. I felt alone like I never had been before.

At my school, I’m the Community Service Prefect. The people on the Prefect Board are known for being Christian role models and kids that “have it all together”. I felt like since I didn’t know what I was doing, faith wise, I wasn’t suited to be in a leadership position at school. I was afraid of what people were going to think, because the prefects are supposed to encourage people in their faith and help them out.

Also, I was taking a class called Bible Discipleship, which is a class for disciples of Jesus that want to learn how to live and love like Jesus did. At that point, I felt really empty, and not at all like a disciple of God. I decided to talk to one of my best friends about it. Even though I didn’t feel God, I kept praying. I tried to be patient, but it was really hard. My friend helped me feel a little bit better, but the connection I used to have with God still wasn’t there.

My school’s spiritual life retreat could not have come at a better time. That whole week, I was fervently praying for God to come back. I know he would never leave me, but at the time, I didn’t feel him. We looked at the stars and just listened to the sounds of nature one night. That week, I started to gain my faith back, and was almost restored to the way I was. However, I still didn’t feel God’s presence. It’s hard to be a Christian when you don’t feel like God is there with you.

On the last night, we do something we dubbed “Cry Night”, as mentioned in How_He_Loves. I wish I could say that I felt God place it on my heart, but I wasn’t feeling God at that time. I just kind of decided that I would share what was going on in my spiritual life at the time. I was really nervous, but I felt like I had to share. I think a lot of people were surprised by what was going on in my life. I was just honest in saying that at the beginning of the week, I didn’t really feel God. I went on to say that everyone doubts, including parents and teachers. I told them that going on the retreat had helped me a little bit. I ended by saying that when you doubt, you can’t give up, because God will never give up on you.

When I got back, a few people asked me about it. Out of the blue, a guy asked me if I was an Atheist. I was completely taken aback. To be honest, I got a little scared! I said, “No, why?” He told me that he thought so because of what I said at the retreat. Then I remembered! “No, no, I’m not.” A little later, some things happened. I always find myself going to God when trials surface. I spent a lot of time praying, and, gradually, I started to feel better. I would read a Bible verse and be like, “God, that’s exactly what I needed to read!” I knew he was there with me, and it felt like he was holding my hand again.

Last week, the quarter ended. So many storms occurred in the first quarter of the year. Spiritually, it was the most difficult time in my life. During the first quarter, I learned that being open and honest about your problems is the best thing to do. I learned to trust God in the hard times, and to know that He will never leave your side. For 1st quarter, a song and a verse have really applied to my life. They’re what has helped me to get through the quarter, in fact.

When most people think Jeremiah, they think of Jeremiah 29:11. Unknown, at least to me, was a verse really close to that one. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” I was searching so intensely, and God revealed himself to me. I put my whole heart into it, and he appeared to me.

The song “Oceans” by Hillsong spoke to me and to what I was going through. More specifically, two parts felt like exactly what I was going through. The first is “And I will call upon your name. And keep my eyes above the waves. When oceans rise My soul will rest in your embrace. For I am yours and you are mine.” When I started to feel like I was drowning, I would just sing that to God. Also, one of the verses near the end applied to me whenever I felt like God was asking me to do something I didn’t want to do.  “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. Let me walk upon the waters wherever you would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander. And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior.”

I’m somewhat hesitant to post this, as almost none of you knew this about me. It’s like I’m sharing a part of my soul with you.

I hope this encourages you guys to keep your eyes above the waves and trust God!

 

Love,

Jennifer Gash

Giant Goff Gathering at Casa Gash

/1 Comment/in /by

We are so blessed to host the Pepperdine Law weekly Wednesday Bible Study at our house.  This gathering has a long lineage that started with F. LaGard Smith and met along the way at the home of Dean Ron Phillips, Dean Dean Martin, and most recently at the home of Tim and Lucy Perrin.  It appears that this past week set an attendance record, as we had between 120 and 130 and to hear an inspiring message from Love Does author, Bob Goff.

A good time of praise, worship, and laughter was had by all.

Bob delivering his message

Luke leading worship as the guests arrive

Love Does book signing

Holding Pattern

/6 Comments/in /by

I am told patience is an acquired virtue.  If so, I still have loads to acquire.  I feel like I am in a jumbo jet circling an airport, waiting for permission to land.  The pilot keeps announcing on the intercom that we should be given the all-clear any moment now, but the all-clear never comes.  I am stuck in a holding pattern.

Nearly three months ago, I posted that Uganda was facing a looming Constitutional Crisis.  The Chief Justice of the Ugandan Supreme Court had just reached (on June 23rd) the mandatory retirement age (70), and yet no successor had been named.  Adding further urgency to the situation, the Deputy Chief Justice had termed out over a year earlier, and still hadn’t been replaced.  Because the Deputy Chief Justice is head of the Court of Appeals, these vacancies left the top two judicial posts in the country empty, and left the top two judicial courts (Supreme Court and Court of Appeals) without an appointed leader.

Fast forwarding nearly three months to the present reveals nothing new.  The Constitutional Crisis has, if anything, deepened.  Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is read the two daily Ugandan newspapers on line.  About every third day, there is another story about this Crisis.  What follows is a thumbnail sketch of how the situation has evolved, or perhaps more accurately, how it has devolved.  (I am only using public sources for this description, and those are the only sources I have, at least as far as you know).

Shortly before the Chief Justice reached the constitutionally mandated retirement date, an internal memorandum circulated within the government that floated the idea of the Chief Justice being appointed to serve a two-year term as an Acting Judge on the Supreme Court.  Uganda’s Constitution provides for limited-term appointments of judges to serve when there are vacancies on the court and judges are needed.  This provision allows for retired judges to fill these short-term slots.  This internal memorandum also suggested that perhaps an acting judge appointed in accordance with this provision could then serve as the Chief Justice.  This, in turn, could allow the retired Chief Justice to be reappointed as Chief Justice, thus skirting the Constitution’s mandatory retirement.

The media reported that the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) – the body responsible for recommending names to the President of Uganda for judicial appointments – rejected this idea as impermissible under Uganda’s Constitution.  The head of the JSC is the former Principal Judge of Uganda (third in command) and is widely respected in Uganda.  Instead, the JSC sent three names to the President from which he was asked to choose.  After seeking advice from his Attorney General, the President declined to accept the advice of the JSC and instead announced he was reappointing the retired Chief Justice.

This news was not well received by the Uganda Law Society (ULS), which is Uganda’s legal bar association.  The ULS then filed a petition in the Constitutional Court (which is the Court of Appeals) seeking to block this reappointment as unconstitutional.  The ULS also made hay of the fact that the retired Chief Justice was the lead drafter of the Constitution and would be, in essence, violating his own rules if he accepted a reappointment.  To his credit, the Chief Justice has declined to engage with the media on the constitutionality of his reappointment.

The President’s nomination then went to Parliament, which held closed hearings on the nomination.  But someone leaked.  It was reported that the head of JSC, in response to a direct question, stated his opinion that the reappointment of the Chief Justice would be unconstitutional.  Meanwhile, the Attorney General consented to interviews both on and off camera and stated that the reappointment is constitutional under the short-term Acting Judge provision.

Well, this pronouncement went over like a pregnant pole vaulter with the ULS.  They held a public meeting and voted to expel the Attorney General from the bar.  Quite naturally, this move was met with utter contempt from the Attorney General and other governmental officials.  Unsurprisingly, the government newspaper (New Vision) is highly supportive of the reappointment of the Chief Justice, while the private newspaper (Daily Monitor) is opposed.

So where are we now?  We are still in Parliament, which must ratify the appointment for it to become effective.  So Parliament can ratify, decline, delay, or . . . they could take another approach that is looming in the background.  They could amend the Constitution.  I have a sneaking suspicion that things are headed in that direction.

When Uganda’s Constitution was enacted in 1995, it explicitly limited the President to two five-year terms.  After the current President served two terms, he decided he wanted a third.  So his ruling party amended the Constitution to remove the two-term limit.  In 2011, he was elected for his fourth term in office.  While his actual age is disputed and/or unknown, he now claims to be 69 years old.  This means that if he were re-elected in 2016, he would bump up against the 75-year maximum for the Presidency.  And all indications are that he would like to continue serving as President for the indefinite future.

So . . ., don’t be surprised if Parliament re-evaluates the Constitutional provision forcing the Chief Justice to retire at age 70.  This would make it quite a bit easier to then lift the age limit on the President a few years down the road.  After all, if Parliament thought the age limits for the judiciary were no longer needed, then why would they be needed for the President?

So what does all of this have to do with me being in a holding pattern?  Thanks for asking.

When I argued Henry’s appeal in March, I did so before a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals.  The most senior judge on the panel was a last-minute replacement because the Acting Deputy Chief Justice (serving in an Acting role because of the vacancy created a year earlier when the Deputy Chief Justice reached retirement age) was quite ill.  Shortly thereafter, the Acting Deputy Chief Justice died.  This made the senior judge on my panel the Acting Deputy Chief Justice.  This leadership role carries with it significant administrative responsibilities.  And when the Chief Justice reached retirement age in June and no replacement was appointed, the Acting Deputy Chief Justice automatically also became the Acting Chief Justice under Uganda’s Constitution.  Accordingly, shortly after my argument, the senior judge on my panel became the Acting Deputy Chief Justice, then three months later also inherited the additional role of Acting Chief Justice.

So, where does that leave the judicial opinion in Henry’s case?  Likely somewhere near the bottom of the to-do list.  Further complicating things, another of the three judges on my panel was elevated to the Supreme Court in July.  What this means for the ruling, I don’t have any idea.  But what I do know is that the Acting Chief Justice/Acting Deputy Chief Justice/Senior Judge on my panel is scheduled to come to Malibu next month for a week, along with five or six other Ugandan judges.  While I do not intend to bring up the ruling in Henry’s case, it will be the proverbial elephant in the room.

Meanwhile, I still talk to Henry every week and he is doing great.  He begins his final term of Secondary School on Monday and is feverishly studying for the national exams in November.  He is hoping to do well enough on those exams to be admitted to medical school next August.