By Jill Ainebyoona
Aged 68, Ntambirweki succumbed to cardiac arrest. Ntambirweki’s knowledge and experience from Makerere University saw him contribute greatly towards law education in Uganda. At the funeral service that was held at All Saints Cathedral Kampala, the widow, Pelucy Ntambirweki told mourners that the two met in 1977 at Makerere University. Ntambirweki was a resident of Livingstone Hall while she resided in Mary Stuart Hall. They got married and were together for 46 years.
The Late Prof. John Ntambirweki
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in law in 1979, Ntambirweki became a special teaching assistant at Makerere University from 1979 to 1980. He left for Nairobi but came back to Makerere as a senior lecturer of public law at the Faculty of Law from 1994 to 2003, where, Pelucy shared, he also served as a dean. He later moved to University of Nairobi, then to Canada, and Uganda Christian University. He also started the Grotius School of Law and Professional Studies in 2001, which became Uganda Pentecostal University in 2005, after being licensed by the National Council for Higher Education. Uganda Pentecostal University is located in Fort Portal City, Kabarole District.
Pelucy says that Ntambirweki believed so much in transforming the lives of people around him other than amassing wealth. He helped his siblings, children and his in-laws, and he never discriminated against anyone.
Andrew Mwenda, a veteran journalist who was one of Prof. Ntambirweki’s students referred to him as a tall man who always stood out from the crowd. In his weekly column in The Independent Magazine, Mwenda wrote that the deceased was his lecturer of international law at Makerere University School of Law. He noted that Ntambirweki always made his students proud Ugandans and Makerereans.
To Mwenda, Ntambirweki was a moving encyclopedia and one of the best lecturers in whose class he has ever sat. “From Makerere to the School of Oriental and African Studies to the London School of Economics, to Stanford, Yale and Oxford. In all those universities, the best in the world, where I have been taught by the brightest professors, John stands among the best of them, an intellectual giant,” wrote Mwenda
Mwenda adds that it was hard to miss Prof. Ntambirweki’s class. He recalled a day when his friend and classmate, the late Bob Kasango, and him had to choose between an intellectually exciting and politically explosive Constituent Assembly debate on the issue of multiparty politics in Uganda, and Prof. Ntambirweki’s lecture. They attended part of the debate and ran back to Makerere for Prof. Ntambirweki’s class. Such was his prowess at imparting knowledge.
Prof. Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, and another student of Prof. Ntambirweki, talked about the late as a good professor of international law, who often addressed himself as among the very few professional soldiers in Uganda.
In Tooro region, Prof. Ntambirweki is celebrated for his contribution towards education, one of his works being Uganda Pentecostal University that offered scholarships to children of the poor in the area.
“Ntambirweki offered bursaries to our students in the Tooro region and his university contributed much to the economy of our region. We hope that his family and management of the university will maintain his legacy,” Mr. Richard Rwabuhinga, the Kabarole District chairman said.
Prof. Ntambirweki served in different capacities, including as the chairman board of trustees for Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) and a consultant with several organisations including the World Bank, UNICEF, UNDP and FAO. He was also a consultant at the law firm of Ntambirweki, Kandeebe and Company Advocates, that he co-founded.
He was buried on 15th April 2023 at his ancestral home in Bisheshe, Ibanda district. He left his wife, Pelucy Ntambirweki, and five children namely, Barbara Kobumanzi Ntambirweki, Brenda Kasabiiti Ntambirweki, Brian Mutungi Ntambirweki, Melissa Keiteta Ntambirweki, and Max Rusooni Ntambirweki.
Makerere University alumni will always remember him for his great contribution towards the university, especially during his tenure at the School of Law.
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