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Deputy Chief Justice Moses Kazibwe Kawumi has urged Ugandans, particularly justice institutions, to uphold the principles of justice, judicial independence and the rule of law for which the country’s first Ugandan Chief Justice, Benedicto Kiwanuka, paid the ultimate price.

Justice Kawumi said remembering the late Chief Justice should go beyond an annual commemoration, urging the Judiciary and other institutions to ensure that his values continue to guide the administration of justice.

‘As we commemorate Justice Benedicto Kiwanuka, we remember a Chief Justice who stood firmly for justice and the rule of law, even at enormous personal cost,’ Justice Kawumi said on Tuesday during a press conference ahead of this year’s memorial lecture slated for Wednesday.

‘The greatest tribute we can pay him is not simply to remember his name once a year. It is to ensure that the values he represented continue to shape our institutions and the administration of justice,’ he added.

Justice Kiwanuka, Uganda’s first black Chief Justice, served from June 27, 1971 until his abduction from his chambers at the High Court on September 21, 1972, by President Idi Amin’s soldiers.

He was never seen alive again.

Justice Kawumi said Kiwanuka’s legacy should be reflected in an independent Judiciary, respect for lawful court decisions, protection of fundamental rights and a commitment to equal access to justice.

‘His legacy must live in an independent Judiciary, in respect for the rule of law, in the protection of rights and, above all, in our commitment to justice for every person,’ he said.

He said justice for all should not remain an abstract principle but must be experienced by court users in their everyday interaction with the justice system.

Justice Kawumi said this means ensuring that people can obtain accurate information, understand court processes, receive fair treatment and have their cases handled within a reasonable time.

One of the cases that cemented his reputation for judicial independence involved British businessman Daniel Stewart, who had been detained without trial.

Justice Kiwanuka granted a writ of habeas corpus despite opposition from the government, affirming the courts’ duty to protect individual liberty and underscoring the principle that the Executive could not dictate to the Judiciary.

Justice Kawumi said the lessons from Kiwanuka’s life remain relevant to Uganda today.

‘In practical terms, this requires us to preserve the independence of the Judiciary and respect lawful court decisions; administer justice impartially and without fear or favour; protect fundamental rights and freedoms; treat every court user with dignity and respect; reduce delays and make justice services easier to understand and access; and demonstrate integrity and courage in the exercise of public responsibility,’ he said.

National legacy

Justice Kawumi said the Kiwanuka story should not be viewed as belonging exclusively to judges and lawyers but as an important part of Uganda’s national history.

‘The principles he defended protect every citizen and sustain confidence in public institutions,’ he said.

He said the commemoration was particularly important for younger generations because it provides an opportunity to learn about Uganda’s judicial history and understand the sacrifices made in defence of constitutional values.

The annual commemoration is associated with September 21, the anniversary of Justice Kiwanuka’s abduction.

However, this year’s Benedicto Kiwanuka Memorial Lecture will be held on September 16 under the theme: ‘Justice for All: Carrying Forward Justice Ben Kiwanuka’s Vision.’

After the death of King Oyo Nyimba at 34, a potentially sour succession struggle looks set to turn his Tooro Kingdom into turmoil.

A feud broke out when the royal Babiito clan’s succession chose his cousin, Prince Edward Kijanangoma Rukidi, to take over the crown as Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I.

King Oyo’s family and a royal faction strongly opposed the announcement. Queen Mother Best Kemigisa called it an illegal usurpation, insisting the throne should go to Oyo’s alleged secret biological son designated in the late monarch’s written Will, which the pro-Kijanangoma Rukidi supporters claim is a forgery.

Intervening in the dust-up, the Ugandan government declared the throne in legal limbo. Justice Minister Norbert Mao said the succession is not complete until a king is officially gazetted, while Attorney General Sam Mayanja advised that King Oyo’s Will must legally guide the process.

Right now, Tooro is in a fix.

For us commoners, all we can do is sift through old history to try to see how this might end.

First stop is “Sundiata”, a great West African epic from Mali. It was passed down by griots (professional oral historians) for nearly 800 years before the Guinean writer Djibril Tamsir Niane recorded and published a written version in 1960.A king has a son, Sundiata, who is sickly and cannot even walk as a small boy.

Everyone laughs at him. When the king dies, another wife’s son takes the throne instead, and Sundiata and his mother are sent away in shame. But Sundiata becomes strong in exile. He returns years later, defeats the cruel king who has taken over, and becomes one of Africa’s greatest rulers.

Sundiata shows that the ‘obviou” heir isn’t always the right one, and that people written off too early sometimes come back to prove everyone wrong. Tooro doesn’t have a ‘weak child’ being underestimated. It has a ‘hidden child’. But the lesson remains: don’t crown someone just because it’s convenient, and don’t dismiss a claim just because it’s inconvenient.

The next is the glorious Ethiopia’s royal story, “The Glory of Kings”. It was compiled by Ethiopian scholars and church scribes around the 1300s. King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba have a son together, Menelik, born far from Solomon’s palace.

Solomon does not see him grow up. Years later, Menelik goes to Jerusalem to claim he is the king’s son. He has to prove it; through signs, through his mother’s testimony, through the resemblance people see in him. Only then is he accepted, and becomes the ancestor of a whole dynasty.

This is partly Tooro’s dilemma: A king. A hidden child. A mother who has to be believed. In Kebra Nagast, the story ends in the son’s favour because he can finally show himself. Tooro’s unknown ‘prince’ hasn’t done that yet (as of Monday of writing this). Until he does, this story is open, unfinished, still to be resolved.

We leave Africa and land on Life Is a Dream, the old 17th-Century Spanish play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, first published in 1636. A king named Basilio hears a prophecy that his son will grow up to be a cruel tyrant, so he locks the boy away at birth and tells no one.

Years later, he tests his son by drugging and freeing him for one day. The son behaves badly, throwing a servant through a window, so Basilio puts him back to sleep and tells him it was all a dream.

The people revolt, and eventually the son is freed for good, and having learned self-control, becomes a wise king after all.

This play isn’t about a hidden child exactly. It’s about a bigger question: who gets to decide, in advance, that someone deserves the throne or not?

Finally is the English play, The Coronation, written by James Shirley (who might be more familiar to Ugandan literature buffs) around 1635. A kingdom is run by a regent while the true queen is still young. It turns out the old king hid two baby sons years earlier, scared the regent would kill them to get power himself. One hidden prince is found and accepted.

Furious, the regent tries to fake the identity of the second missing prince, using a nobleman who simply looks like the old king. The trick almost works until witnesses step forward and expose the truth.

This is Tooro’s story almost scene for scene: a committee moving fast to install their choice, a family countering with a hidden heir, and everyone waiting to see who the trusted witnesses will believe.

Which story will be Tooro’s fate?

Right now, it’s living all four at once: the doubted heir, the unproven son, the committee playing judge, and the standoff over who’s real and who’s convenient. The only part still unsettled is the ending.

It was beyond politics on Tuesday when President Yoweri Museveni said he felt lost for a while after observing that no such beautiful Greenland-like Zoka Forest was visible in Adjumani District.

‘Whenever I come to Adjumani from Entebbe by helicopter, I pass over Zoka Forest. But today (Tuesday), when I looked through the window, there was no Zoka. I thought I was lost. What happened to Zoka?’ Mr Museveni asked.

Mr Museveni, who was in Adjumani District campaigning for the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party candidate ahead of Thursday’s Adjumani West by-election, sought an explanation from the party chairperson, MrCharles Akuku, who attributed the disappearance of the forest cover to encroachment and settlement inside the reserve.

He told the President that more than 500 people had reportedly settled inside the protected area, undertaking illegal activities including charcoal burning and lumbering.

In response, Mr Museveni warned that the government would confront those responsible for destroying the forest. ‘We are going to have war with them,’ Mr Museveni said.

ZOKA FOREST

This is not the first time that the President is calling for war against the illegal loggers and charcoal dealers in the forest.

In August 2019, during the Symposium at Muni University in Arua City, President Yoweri Museveni, in his speech, ordered that ‘Get out of Zoka Forest. It is just a small area. Why do you destroy this small forest? People who are going into the forests and wetlands ignorantly don’t know the consequences; they should get out because they are destroying the environment. We should stand firm and tell them to get out peacefully.’

The remarks come amid growing concern over the rapid degradation of Zoka Central Forest Reserve, one of the key natural forests in the West Nile sub-region.

The rain forest has become a hotbed for plundering, especially the Afzellia African species, Shea trees and others, which are harvested for timber and charcoal.

Two weeks ago, Adjumani District Council passed a resolution calling for urgent measures to protect and restore the reserve following revelations of extensive illegal activities inside the protected area.

Among the resolutions is the immediate eviction of illegal encroachers and the opening and clear marking of the boundaries of Zoka Central Forest Reserve.

The council also called for stronger enforcement of forestry laws and closer coordination between government agencies, district leaders, cultural institutions and communities to halt further destruction.

Adjumani District Chairperson John Anyanzo said the district council’s resolution was intended to complement ongoing efforts by Parliament and other stakeholders to protect the forest.

Parliamentary alarm

The district’s action follows a fact-finding visit by the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, which recently assessed the condition of Zoka Central Forest Reserve.

The committee, led by its chairperson, Mr Dan Kimosho, and deputy chairperson, Ms Ann Nankabirwa, visited the forest alongside district leaders, councillors, security officials, technical officers, cultural leaders, conservation groups and community members.

The visit exposed extensive human activity inside the reserve, including illegal logging, charcoal burning, farming and encroachment.

The committee also found makeshift camps reportedly occupied by illegal loggers and charcoal dealers. Women and children were also seen in some of the settlements, raising concerns about the growing nature of human habitation inside the protected area.

The presence of settlements, district leaders say, makes enforcement more complicated and increases the risk of further destruction of the forest.

The Team Leader of Friends of Zoka, Mr William Amanzuru, has often called for implementation of the law without compromise on saving the forest. ‘Every day, we cry for this forest to be protected because it has been under siege for decades. The forest is virtually gone because we have well-connected people operating illegally in the forest.’

He said there are illegal settlements and construction of petrol stations that have been done in the forest. ‘These people are most times supported by the military because when you impound logs or charcoal, you get threatening calls from anonymous people in the military,’ he said.

The district council’s resolutions now put pressure on responsible government agencies to enforce the law while balancing conservation measures with the concerns of communities living around the forest.

The developments have also renewed calls for stronger protection of Zoka, amid concerns that continued logging, charcoal production and agricultural expansion could further reduce the forest cover if urgent action is not taken.

Doctors have warned that Ugandans balancing late-night commitments for work, study, or family may harm their physical health, mental focus, and emotional well-being, urging them to reset their body clocks for better sleep quality.

Doctors say irregular bedtimes, sleeping in on weekends, and exposure to bright screens at night can disrupt the body’s circadian rhythm, the roughly 24-hour cycle that regulates sleep and wakefulness.

At about 5pm, the day is far from over for several Ugandans, with some workers moving from their main jobs to side businesses, evening shifts, and other income-generating activities, with the growing pressure to earn extra income.

Others use the evening to tutor, study, and complete housework. By the time they finish, it may be close to midnight or later, yet the following morning often comes early.

Dr Justus Atuhaire, a physician at Mulago National Referral Hospital, says: ‘The circadian rhythm is a natural physical and mental loop that runs on an approximately 24-hour cycle that tells the body when it is time to feel awake and alert, and when it is time to feel sleepy.’

The body clock also influences body temperature, digestion, and hormone levels, with light and darkness serving as major signals that regulate the cycle.

When the clock gets out of step

Daylight tells the brain that it is daytime, while darkness promotes the release of melatonin, a hormone associated with preparing the body for sleep. Bright artificial light late in the evening can interfere with this process and make it harder to fall asleep.

‘Late-night work, device screens, tasks, and problem-solving keep your brain alert and active when it should be winding down. People who use strong lights at night delay natural sleep since they stop your body from sensing true darkness,’ Dr Atuhaire explains.

Constantly changing sleep times can also prevent the body from settling into a predictable rhythm.

‘Shifting your schedule constantly forces your internal clock to reset every single day, which prevents the body from ever locking into a healthy, predictable pattern. It removes the predictable cues your body relies on,’ he adds.

Dr Joel Mirembe Nsubuga, a physician and former secretary general of the Uganda Medical Association, says an occasional short night should not become a routine.

‘If you have had a short night, you can use measures such as a brief nap to temporarily improve your alertness, but you still need to recover the lost sleep. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommends that adults keep naps to about 20 minutes to avoid feeling groggy.’

Resetting the body clock

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends going to bed and waking up at the same time each day, including weekends, because sleeping in can disrupt the body’s sleep-wake rhythm.

‘The human body clock generally takes one day per hour of time shift to fully adjust. When adjusting your sleep schedule, shifting your bedtime back gradually is highly recommended over trying to change it all at once,’ Dr Mirembe says.

He recommends moving bedtime and wake-up time by 15 to 30 minutes every two to three days. ‘If your current bedtime is 1am, aim for 12.45am for a couple of nights, then 12.30am and so on. Progress is gradual, so holding your new times steady on weekends is what makes the change stick.’

Dr Atuhaire recommends exposure to daylight during the day, saying light is one of the body’s strongest signals for regulating the sleep-wake cycle.

‘The body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm, responds strongly to light. Exposure to daylight during the day helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle and can promote alertness,’ he says.

At night, Mr Davis Amanya, a wellness coach, advises people to reduce activities that keep them stimulated when they should be preparing for sleep.

‘If you only have a limited window in which you can sleep, don’t spend part of that time on your phone or doing things that can wait. Create a routine that tells your body it is time to wind down,’

Mr Amanya says, calling for reduction of bright light and screen exposure before bed and keeping the bedroom dark, quiet and comfortable.

Coffee and energy drinks are a quick response to tiredness for several people, but Dr Atuhaire says international health guidelines generally recommend limiting caffeine to 400mg per day or less for most adults.

‘Caffeine makes you feel more awake because it blocks some of the signals in the brain that make you feel sleepy. However, it can remain in the body for several hours and, when taken too late in the day, may interfere with the next night’s sleep, which can create a cycle,’ he said.

Mr Amanya also advises people to maintain a balanced diet, stay hydrated and engage in light physical activity to support energy levels and overall wellbeing. However, he cautioned that exercise cannot replace adequate sleep.

Utility

How much sleep is needed?

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), sleep requirements vary with age.

Newborns aged zero to three months need 14 to 17 hours of sleep a day, while infants aged four to 12 months require 12 to 16 hours, including naps. Toddlers aged one to two years need 11 to 14 hours, while children aged three to five years require 10 to 13 hours.

School-age children between six and 12 years should get nine to 12 hours, while teenagers aged 13 to 17 years need eight to 10 hours.

Adults aged 18 and above need seven to nine hours

Dr Justus Atuhaire, a physician at Mulago hospital, says people should not mistake their ability to stay awake for evidence that they have adapted to needing less sleep.

‘You can train yourself to tolerate the feeling of tiredness, but you cannot train the body to stop needing sleep. The fact that someone says, ‘I only sleep five hours, and I am fine,’ does not necessarily mean that their brain and body are functioning at their best.’