Kampala, Uganda: The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Hon. Norbert Mao, stunned delegates at the Judiciary’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Summit in Munyonyo with a dramatic retelling of how he and fellow Makerere University students once “suspended” their Vice Chancellor in the early 1990s.
Speaking before an audience that included Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, cultural leaders, judges, and church representatives, Mao humorously narrated how, as a student activist, he led a protest that culminated in the symbolic suspension of then-Vice Chancellor Prof. Senteza Kajubi.
“We were accused of instigating strikes. So in retaliation, we drafted a suspension letter dismissing the Vice Chancellor,” Mao recalled amid laughter from the audience.
Prof. Senteza, exercising authority, quickly turned the tables and officially suspended Mao and his fellow students. But the students refused to bow out quietly.
Mao said they urgently sought legal redress, and were directed to a brilliant lawyer in town—none other than the current Chief Justice, Alfonse Owiny-Dollo.
“We told him, if we don’t get help, we are going to leave Makerere without qualifications. This would ruin our futures and disappoint our families,” Mao explained.
Owiny-Dollo, then a practicing lawyer, took up their case and discovered that the suspension letters issued against them lacked statutory authority because they hadn’t been ratified by the university Senate. The students were reinstated.
Mao used the anecdote to advocate for stronger reliance on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms, saying that if the same dispute occurred today, it would best be handled through dialogue and mediation, rather than courts.
“Such matters should be extinguished under alternative justice systems instead of rushing to lawyers,” Mao emphasized.
He called upon cultural institutions, universities, and workplaces to adopt ADR in managing conflict and preserving harmony in society.
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