By our reporter
Hassan Male Mabirizi Kiwanuka is the man in the news following his well articulated submission during the ongoing age limit case at the Constitutional Court in Mbale.
In his submission, Mabirizi contests the manner in which 317 Members of Parliament amended the constitution which saw among others the presidential age limit scrapped, president and parliament tenure extended from five to seven years.
According to him, parliament did a constitutional replacement and thus demands court to scrap the amendment so that the Constitution is upheld.
Who is Male Mabirizi?
Mabirizi shot to fame when he sued Buganda’s Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi for illegally collecting land fees (Busuulu) and demanded, among other things, for a disclosure of his bank account details.
Born in 1987 in Lugazi to Mohammed Mutumba and the late Ndwaddewazibwa Mastula, Mabirizi’s mother died when he was only five years old and this was the beginning of the end of what had been a good life. His father later remarried and sent the little Mabirizi to his grandmother in the village in Nkokonjeru where he stayed until he completed his primary school at Nkokonjeru Muslim primary school.
Throughout his primary school, Male never wore shoes until the day he sat for Primary Leaving Examinations.
After his good performance in PLE, Male was brought back to Kampala to pursue his Secondary Education.
According to the Independent magazine, in his early days in secondary school, Mabirizi irritated his family when he refused to apologize to his step mother on the orders of his father and other relatives. The stepmother accused him of disrespecting her and when he refused to apologise, the relationship between them got worse. As a result, Mabirizi was chased away from home and his father also refused to continue paying his school fees.
In an effort to stand up for his rights, the 16 year old decided to sue his father for negligence and neglect of his fatherly duties. But being a minor, Mabirizi was advised by the family division court to forward his complaints through an adult.
“My father was summoned after which he agreed to pay the fees but still banned me from returning to his home,” Mabirizi told the Independent.
Despite being banned from home, Mabirizi continued with school and it was his head teacher at Crane High School in Kampala that offered him a vacancy in the boarding section, which gave him a chance to a better future. This meant hard work and perseverance for the half-orphan whose mother had passed on while he was still in Primary Two.
At the end of the four years, Mabirizi was the best candidate at the school, scoring eight aggregates in the best six subjects. This performance earned him a place at Kawempe Muslim Secondary School and also compelled his father offer him financial and other logistical support.
While here, Mabirizi worked even harder in order to qualify for government sponsorship. His dream was to pursue a Bachelors of Laws at Makerere University. Indeed, Mabirizi was among the excellent performers with 25 points, which earned him a place at Makerere University.
During his second year at the university, Mabirizi started a money lending business from his savings as a taxi conductor during the long senior six holidays.
Having qualified as a lawyer, Mabirizi saw no reason to enroll for the postgraduate diploma in legal practice at the Law Development Centre (LDC) that would have made him an advocate of the High court.
He still earns from the money lending business on top of his legal profession.
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