Hon. Betty Bigombe, Hon. Justice Egonda Ntende and Prof. Leif Abrahamsson were on Monday conferred upon honorary doctorates for their exemplary service to humanity at Makerere University’s 74th Graduation Ceremony.
Bigombe, 69, served as the Senior Director for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence at the World Bank from 2014 to 2017.
She was the State Minister for Water Resources in the Uganda Cabinet and a Member of Parliament (MP), representing Amuru District Women’s Constituency. She resigned from the two appointments on 1 June 2014.
On the first day of the graduation ceremony held at Freedom Square, Bigombe, the peace champion, golden child of Uganda and alumnus of Makerere University, was awarded a Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa
Justice Frederick Martin Stephen Egonda-Ntende was also conferred the prestigious Honorary Doctor of Laws.
Justice Egonda-Ntende serves as a Justice of the Court of Appeal of Uganda, which doubles as the Constitutional Court of Uganda. Prior to that, from 2009 until 2014, he served as the Chief Justice of the Seychelles.
Prior to that, he served as Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of Uganda. He was also involved in the setting up of an independent judiciary in East Timor, where he served as a judge of the Court of Appeal.
Apart from the two Honorary Doctor of Laws, Makerere Law School, on the same day, graduated 20 Master of Laws and 324 Bachelor of Laws Degrees.
Dr. Nakibuule Gladys Kisseka became the second awardee of a Doctor of Laws of Makerere Law School. Her research was on Plea Bargaining and the Right to Fair Hearing in Uganda.
Prof. Leif Abrahamsson, on the other hand, was conferred the prestigious Honorary Doctor of Science.
In August last year, Makerere University also honoured Prof. Leif Abrahamsson for his contribution to the development of Mathematics in the East African region.
This was during the opening ceremony of the four-day Joint African-Nordic Conference in Mathematics, an event organized to share research findings and take stock of the Nordic support for Mathematics in the region in the past two decades.
Prof. Abrahamsson, from the Department of Mathematics, Uppsala University started the network of Eastern African Universities Mathematics Program (EAUMP) to improve the state of mathematics, through Masters and PhD training.
After setting up the network, mathematics became one of the International Science Programme (ISP)’s core programs. Because of Prof Abrahamson’s efforts, to date, ISP support to Mathematics in the region ranges from visible capacity built at PhD, Masters and Postdoc levels.
Alumni grace 74th graduation ceremony
The 74th graduation ceremony, presided over by Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, was also graced outstanding alumni including; Chief Justice of Uganda Hon. Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, Hon Norbert Mao, the Minister for Constitutional Affairs, and Erias Lukwago, the Lord Mayor of Kampala Capital City Authority, and Dr Tanga Odoi.
They were later hosted at a luncheon by Makerere University Convocation Executive, led by its Chairman, George Turyamureeba.
