“The More I Go Higher, the Less I Know”: My Encounter with Justice Professor G.W. Kanyeihamba

 

 

” The mind that knew no ceiling ”

 

By Isaac Christopher Lubogo

 

 

> “He rose not by climbing ladders, but by tearing down the ceilings of thought. His intellect did not echo others—it originated law’s deeper meaning. In commemorating him, we do not just remember a jurist; we salute a cathedral of consciousness where justice, humility, and eternal learning made their home.”

— Isaac Christopher Lubogo

In Memory of the Mind That Knew No Ceiling

 

 

 

I. The Day the Gown Walked in With the Mind of a Giant

 

It was not just another symposium at Uganda Christian University. It was not simply another guest lecture. It was, in every measure, an intellectual pilgrimage. I was then serving as the President of the UCU Law Society, young yet awakening, hungry for substance beyond the rote study of statutes. And then he came—the man whose name was etched not only in the annals of Ugandan jurisprudence but also in the margins of nearly every major constitutional turning point in our nation’s postcolonial life: Justice Professor George Wilson Kanyeihamba.

 

He walked into our modest hall without entourage, without arrogance, and without ornament—clad in humility, wrapped in knowledge. But when he spoke, it was as though the books, benches, and black robes all turned to listen.

 

 

II. Today’s Lawyer: Between Two Certificates and Infinite Responsibilities

 

His keynote address was themed “The Lawyer Today”, but what unfolded was far more profound than a conventional lecture. Midway through his remarks, he quoted from a book titled simply Law, and in doing so, left us all suspended in thoughtful silence:

 

> “If we reflected on the role that law plays in our lives, both private and social, we shall realize that without law, organized society would be impossible … From the moment of birth to the moment of death, our lives are regulated by law … between two legal documents—the birth and death certificates … In all these cases, it is the law that will determine his or her rights and duties.”

 

 

 

He paused.

 

Then he looked at us, almost as if summoning us to deeper consciousness, and added:

 

> “But law does not begin at birth, nor does it end at death. It safeguards the unborn. It respects the dead. It regulates eternity in both directions.”

 

 

 

It was at that moment that we all realized: we had not invited a guest speaker. We had summoned a jurisprudential oracle.

 

 

III. The Most Qualified Jurist in Uganda—Perhaps in Africa

 

What made his wisdom even more compelling was the intellectual spine that held it all up. Justice Prof. Kanyeihamba’s credentials are beyond illustrious—they are legendary:

 

LL.B (Hons) from the University of Portsmouth

 

LL.M and Ph.D. in Law from the University of Warwick, where he later received an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D)

 

Served as Attorney General, Minister of Justice, Member of Parliament, and later Justice of the Supreme Court of Uganda (1997–2009)

 

Judge at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (2006–2008)

 

Chancellor of both Kampala International University and Kabale University

 

Author of numerous works including Constitutional Law and Government in Uganda (1975), Commentaries on Law, Politics, and Governance, and The Rule of Law in a Fading Democracy (2024)—his final publication, which I had the privilege to review.

 

 

It is said he was always top of his class, and those who studied with him at Warwick often describe him as the man “who read like he was preparing for a courtroom in heaven.”

 

 

IV. The Paradox of Knowledge: What He Told Me Personally

 

After his lecture, I approached him with reverence, notebook in hand, ready to absorb whatever fragments of truth he might still offer. But what he said disarmed every presumption I held:

 

> “Isaac,” he said with a soft authority, “the more I go higher, the more I get to know that I really know nothing.”

 

 

 

It stunned me. Not because I didn’t expect humility from him, but because I didn’t expect that level of existential honesty from a man who had scaled every intellectual mountain law could offer.

 

This echoed his more public pronouncement:

 

> “The more I learn, the less I understand.”

 

 

 

These are not the words of a man giving up on knowledge. These are the words of a man so immersed in truth, he understands that each answer births new questions. That humility is the highest credential of a great mind.

 

 

V. Law as a Lived Ecosystem: Beyond Textbooks and Courtrooms

 

The substance of his lecture, and our subsequent conversation, challenged us to reimagine law not as a career path, but as a life path. He implored us to view law as:

 

The mother’s shield before childbirth

 

The infant’s unseen contract with society

 

The contract that precedes handshake

 

The divider of property, the unifier of families

 

The steward of the dead

 

And yes, the protector of the unborn

 

 

> “No one can live a full life alone, as a hermit in a desert,” he reminded us. “And no one can live outside the reach of law, for even solitude is subject to the law of silence.”

 

 

VI. The Lawyer’s True Calling

 

He concluded with a sobering call to integrity:

 

> “The principles that govern law should be that the interests of the client must count more than any other consideration within the law—except the lawyer’s own integrity.”

 

 

 

He warned us against the toxicity of financial prejudice, against becoming merchants in robes. He challenged us to become custodians of justice, not just professionals with titles.

 

 

VII. Final Reflection: Learning from the Mind That Dared to Learn

 

In truth, that encounter did not just shape my understanding of law—it reshaped my understanding of humility, truth, and legacy. Justice Prof. Kanyeihamba was arguably the most qualified legal scholar Uganda ever produced. But he was also the most self-aware, the most grounded, the most intellectually honest.

 

He taught me that the true law is not only written in statutes—but also in scars, silence, and service.

 

And even as he departs from this life, I still hear his voice whispering through the corridors of my convictions:

 

> “Keep learning, Isaac. It is only the fool who says: the less I know, the more I understand.”

 

 

✍🏽 Isaac Christopher Lubogo

Legal Scholar | Author | President Emeritus, UCU Law Society

 

Commemorating the Mind That Knew No Ceiling