The nine-year struggle to get a law degree

It is a Friday afternoon and you would expect the gigantic Lt. Gen. Moses Ali to be at his home resting. Despite having no more ambitions after being enrolled to the bar, the simple and down to earth former rebel prefers to be at work.

With papers littered on his table, I find him reading out a little loud, a certain letter and he only lifts his head to look at me after finishing what he is reading. Attempts to have him shift from his office table to a comfortable brown leather sofa in his office are futile as he prefers, in his own words, “ not to look lazy”.

He gives me only 30 minutes to hold the interview since he has to continue with his work. As we chat, he laughs out loud, making jokes here and there, wondering why many people think he is tough and arrogant.

He will not talk about his family, “that is the area I never go to” he says preferring to talk only about the numbers. Moses Ali had four wives, before losing one last year and seven children, the youngest being 11 years.

He drinks coffee and enjoys kalo and dried fish and avoids oily things.

Education
Moses Ali dreamt of becoming a lawyer during his childhood. He first attended Madarasa Classes before joining a Muslim Primary school in 1951 that was founded by Sheikh Ramathan Wani his uncle. The school was later banned.

He later attempted to join a nearby Catholic School which wanted him to convert to be admitted but his father refused. He later joined Erepi Church of Uganda Primary School, six miles from his home on condition that he changed his name from Musa (the name he was given at birth) to Moses and to use only the initial of Ali. So he was to go by the name, Moses A.

After finishing primary school, he moved through four different schools, before completing S4 at Old Kampala SSS. After joining the army in 1968, he was commissioned to the rank of 2nd lieutenant, a year later and in 1971 he was promoted to the rank of Major General skipping two ranks in the process.

Other promotions followed, and he remained a brigadier for 29 years before being promoted by President Museveni in 2003 to Lt. Gen.

Despite all the ranks, Moses Ali felt he still needed to be a lawyer and in 2003 he tried to apply for Law at Makerere University (MUK) on basis of his military certificates but he was unable to as he had to have an equivalent of A’ Level certificates.

He applied for online studies at University of Wolverhampton for a certificate of higher education in law.

After its completion, he was admitted to MUK for Law, which he passed and he joined the Law Development Centre for a diploma in legal practice.

“I used the five years I was out of government to better myself, I was tired of being considered semi-illiterate by members of Parliament,” he said during his enrollment to the bar on May 30th. “I can now use the legal knowledge I have to debate better in the house, as a Deputy Leader of Government Business,” he added

Political life
Moses Ali has served the country five times as a deputy Prime Minister at all the various positions, that is first, second and third, in different regimes. He says all he thinks about nowadays is leaving the country in good hands for continuity, since he and his fellow leaders are getting old. With no more ambitions in life, he will start a law firm after retiring from politics, and help people using the pro bono system, that is, helping those who cannot afford legal aid. Asked what major challenges he has faced in politics, he says they are several but states that working as a minister of Finance in Idi Amin’s government was the most challenging.

Other life
He has worked as a Primary school teacher during his youth, and what many people may not know is that he was the president of Federation of Uganda Football Associations (Fufa).

“As a youth I enjoyed sport and in 1994, I joined Fufa because there were many problems. I had to reconcile the parties. I went up to Zurich at the headquarters and when the chaos had cooled, I left the position,” he narrates.

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