In first year first semester, I innocently raised my hand in class and asked Dr. Ruhweza a simple question, “Are we taught the law de facto or de jure?” After a micro second of thought he answered, his response was detailed but in short, he said, a bit of both. 
Each passing day, I feel the realism in his answer slowly fading away. In light of recent events in the nation, in light of what we see transpire in our state each day, I feel like we’re not ready to face the realities of the law of the land.
Nothing has prepared us for Uganda as is, nothing that we’ve studied has prepared us for the fact that bail is granted at the wishes of the tormentors, nothing has prepared us for the fact that habeas corpus is a good old tale from the ’80z, nothing that have we studied has prepared us for the fact that the entire bill of rights in our constitution is just mere words surrounded by other words whose veracity isn’t of any more value than a Jane and Peter story book, nothing that we have studied has prepared is for the fabulous joke that is separation of powers or in light of recent events that the speaker of parliament can willingly accept special forces to usurp the powers of the speaker and fornicate on law making ground, nothing has prepared us for the tyrannical abuse of power and defeat of the spirit of the constitution that we see taking place today, nothing has prepared us for the weight of lawlessness and greed that we see today, nothing that we have studied has prepared us for the fact that torture is a public secret in the nation, that volumes and volumes of Human Rights reports are filed every year that shall never be acted upon despite the volumes getting bigger with each passing year, that the law is simply one man’s wishes being twisted to fit any situation as he may whims and desires. 
So I hate myself for believing Dr. Ruhweza’s answer, I hate myself for attending all those constitutional law lectures, I hate myself for knowing how things should be, I hate myself for understanding the rights availed to individuals in the country, I hate myself for knowing the bill of rights, I hate myself for thinking the law of the land was of any value, I hate myself for choosing law, perhaps a Business Administration course would be more relevant to the status quo, I hate that I’m going to be a lawyer born into this system or as better out by my learning friend, I hate that I’m going to be a lawyer practicing in a broken state, with broken systems, fighting to represent my clients before a failed and corrupted system. 

Ignorance surely is bliss, I wish I could unlearn the ideals I’ve studied, understand that the law is a mere toy of the big man and appreciate the hopelessness of our situation, maybe then I’d have peace, maybe if I didn’t know, maybe if I was tending to crops in the village waking up at cockcrow to tend to crops deep in my village, maybe then all this would not hurt, because I can guarantee you, knowing and seeing how things are done is a different kind of pain. 
                                                 ~J.K~