Uganda's ex-judge Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya dies in The Hague aged 70

Retired High Court Judge Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya, an accomplished jury in the areas of international criminal law, human rights and international humanitarian law is dead.

Justice Nahamya, 70, breathed her last in the wee hours of Friday morning in The Hague, Netherlands, a country that hosts two global courts of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The cause of her death was still unknown by press time.
Justice Nahamya, whose demise was announced by the Judiciary on Friday morning, besides serving as a distinguished High Court judge, she also served as a jury for several international courts including; the Special Court for Sierra-Leone, the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of retired High Court Judge, Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya which occurred earlier today in the Netherlands,” the death announcement by the Judiciary reads in part.

In October 2020, she joined other Justices in Arusha Tanzania; Ian Bonomy (UK-born) and Ms Graciela Susana G. Santana from Uruguay to form a three-judge panel to hear a case  of Felicien Kabuga, a Rwanda genocide suspect.
Former Principal Judge, Yorokamu Bamwine, who closely supervised the deceased judge, eulogized her as a resolute judge when it comes to decision making.
“Very sad news. She was a very amicable, resolute in her decisions and ever ready to carry out judicial assignments. She did her work well and she was a good example of a serious judicial officer,” former Principal Judge Bamwine, eulogized her.

“We shall miss her resourcefulness. May the good Lord comfort her family and grant her eternal peace,” he added.
Shortly after her retirement from the Judiciary upon clocking 65 years in 2017, Justice Nahamya joined Onyango & Co Advocates, where she worked as a legal consultant since she had other pending assignments in several international courts.
Mr John Francis Onyango Owor, one of the managing partners at the law firm, was shocked about her demise and described her as a “creative” and “hardworking Judge”. 
“She was a very creative, hardworking and went out of her way to find solutions to challenges of all kinds,” Counsel Onyango recalls of her.

Her retirement from the Judiciary came at the time when she, along with two other judges were conducting a trial of the Muslim clerics.
She was at the time a judge attached to the International Crimes Division of the High Court.
This saw the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) grant her and Justice Ezekiel Muhanguzi, a one-year extension in a bid to conclude the clerics’ trial.
The clerics led by Tabliq Sect leader Sheikh Yunus Kamoga had been charged with the murder of various rival Muslim leaders. 
Given her passion for justice matters, also after her retirement, Justice Nahamya went on to establish and become the Executive Director of Emerging Solutions Africa, an NGO focusing on access to justice and issues related to human trafficking and refugees.

During her illustrious legal career, Justice Nahamya also lectured the Law of Contract, Insurance and the Law of Contract at Ahmadu Bello University Kaduna State Nigeria and at the National University of Lesotho.
She worked with the Central Bank of Lesotho and consulted with the Ministry of Finance in Uganda, the World Bank and the Justice Ministry in Uganda.
She was also a researcher for the Constituent Assembly and successfully advised women delegates to include provisions on minority representations, women’s human rights and issues that pertained to accountability and the environment.

Academic wise, she held a Masters’ Degree from the University of New Haven USA, a Bachelor’s degree from Makerere University Kampala, Uganda (1975), and several other post-graduate courses.
In one of her life stories titled “My story, Your inspiration”, regarding why she took on the legal career at the time when it was a male dominated course, she said she was born in an almost all girls family at a time when girls were not considered to be at par with the boys.
 In 2013, she was listed on the roster of eminent judges for the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Justice Nahamya began her legal career as a lawyer in private practice, before having a short stint at the Justice Ministry.
She subsequently, went on to establish her own private law practice, where she worked from 1993 to 1996. After acting as Trial Chamber Coordinator at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha from 1996 to 2004, she served as principal defender and later deputy principal defender at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, between 2004 and 2008.
[email protected]