Book review : Unmitigated Humour, the Justice Kanyeihamba style

Collections of rib-cracking jokes, wise sayings, quotations and humour; that’s what Unmitigated Humour and Wise Cracks of All Seasons is all about. In this latest literary work of retired Supreme Court Justice George Kanyeihamba, wisdom and wits meet humour.
In the 16 chapters, the author uses humour from a range of life scenarios. Unlike other parts of Africa where people make jokes laden with idioms, Prof Kanyeihamba gives it to the readers in black and white.
Race is a touchy subject to many people, but in the pages of Unmitigated Humour the author makes fun of it, calling White people pinkish and Black people dark brown. The humour opens our eyes to aspects of the human race we had not appreciated before.
The author tells a joke of a Mukiga man who went to London on official duties and almost starved to death in his hotel room simply because he answered the door bell in a typical Kikiga way, asking “nohe” and the English waitresses who had come to attend to him thought he said “no way”.
Unmitigated Humour also has notable quotes from famous people in the fields of politics, medicine and from the author himself. The 180-page book does not only have the author’s jokes, it also includes those he has heard about. He is not only generous with his brand of humour but also in mixing it with what he has read or heard in what he calls wells of wisdom.
In another chapter, he quotes former British prime minister Winston Churchill who fell in love with Uganda and called it the Pearl of Africa. “Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry,” he quotes.
One section is dedicated to the author’s best jokes and anecdotes, covering a wide range of topics such as education, democracy, crime, customer care, justice, politics and religion.
Unmitigated Humour is a collection of jokes that not only engage the reader, but also offer moral lessons to those enjoying the manner and style the learned author uses.
Leafing through the pages of Unmitigated Humour and Wise Cracks of All Seasons makes it easy to see beauty when legal wits meet humorous minds to make the pen belch with laughter. In the section about wisdom of the lunatics, the author’s witty side stands out as it does on other issues.
Unmitigated Humour is a combination of both the author’s best jokes, mixed with those he has read or heard. Some are embedded in traditional folklore, but as he admits in the introduction of the book, he has modified some of them for the book.
For those familiar with the author’s other works, this book will give them a glimpse in the sources of wit.
The book published by Panamaline Book Publishers is another of the professors’ literary works, even though this one is not about his legal specialty. At a cost of only Shs20,000 this book can be obtained from all leading bookshops in Kampala and Johnrich Supermarket.

Book review
Book title: Unmitigated Humour and Wise Cracks of All Seasons
Author: Prof George Kanyeihamba
Publisher: Panamaline Book Publishers
Price: Shs20,000
Available at: Leading bookshops
Reviewed by: Henry Lubega