With Due Respect, I Salute The Passing Judge!
Just call me “Judge”, Justice Ntabgoba told me in reply to my question on how I would address him, when he joining Kampala Associated Advocates in the capacity of a consultant in 2004. I had a hard time trying to come to terms working with Justice Ntabgoba as an equal, knowing how he used to scare the hell out me each time I appeared before him during his time at the Judiciary.
Eventually I learnt to work with the Judge as a friend and shared with him those agonising moments when he was struggling to get his pension paid, a matter which should have been arranged and settled before he left the bench. As a former Principal Judge, it was humbling having to knock on office doors, chasing his pension. He went through another agonising moment when soon after retirement he went to check on his Wakiso farm only to be told that the herdsmen had long stolen all the animals. He had been too busy at the Judiciary to find time to supervise his private investment. He was unable to strike a balance between Judicial work and private investment.
His daily routine at the Judiciary as he told it to me explains it all. That his day would start at 7:00 a.m. attending to administrative duties. This would take him up to 9:00 a.m. when would open his Court to preside over “short causes” (Applications). This would take him up to 1:00p.m for a short break when he would resume at 2:00p.m. to start full hearings. He would use the short break to write rulings on the “short causes” he had presided over that morning. The full hearings would go on sometimes up to 6:30 p.m. when the Judge would retire to his Chambers to tie up some administrative work, closing his office at around 8:00 p.m. At home where he would utilise the time between super and 6:00a.m in the morning for family interaction, writing Judgments and sleep only to wake up at 6:00a.m to prepare for a new day at the High Court. This was his routine for over twenty years. He was obviously a meteorite that burned itself out to light the world.
About October last year (2019), as usual I went to Justice Ntabgoba’s Office for a consultation session. He was weaker than usual. He told me that his feet were cold and that coldness was slowly coming up to the upper parts of his body. He told me that he thought he was dying- slowly from below. I made a move to leave the Judge to take a rest, but he stopped me before I could leave. He told me that I had forgotten something – prayer! I told him we should humble ourselves and I would lead the prayer. The Judge would have nothing to do with the order of agenda I had set. Instead he said he shall be the one to lead the prayer. It turned out to be a thanks giving prayer. He thanked God for the long rich life, his family and the many people who had gone through his life over the years – Amen. It was a short prayer. I was struck by the humility and the peace the great man had established with his God. He had no bitterness with either God or man. And as I was leaving his office, the Judge stopped me. He told me that knowing me as he did, he was sure I was to like what he was going to say next:- “Please know this, when He calls me I will answer”.
These were the last words I had from Justice Jeremiah Herbert Ntabgoba before he was admitted at Nakasero Hospital early this year. That Hospital reminded me of an incident when I asked Justice Ntabgoba as my consultant to advise on a complicated mortgage deed meant to cover a facility which was being extended by East African Development Bank to finance modern installations at Nakasero Hospital. “This is beyond reproach”, the Judge had said of my draft.
It was at this hospital to which the Judge unknowingly laid a building block with his advice on my draft, that on Easter Sunday 12th April 2020, His Lordship Justice Jeremiah Herbert Ntabgoba, peaceful laid his burden down. He answered the divine call and peacefully transited to that better place where all shall be happy and free, in the everlasting ambiance of Supreme Justice and equity.
