Retired High Court Judge, Lady Justice Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya, has died in the Netherlands.
She passed away on Thursday, January 5, 2023. The cause of death was not communicated.
“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Retired High Court Judge, Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya which occurred earlier today (Thursday) in the Netherlands,” Judiciary Uganda said in a death announcement.
It added: “Burial arrangements to be communicated later. May Her Soul Rest in Eternal Peace.”
Who was Nahamya?
Elizabeth Ibanda–Nahamya was a lawyer and judge, who, on 22 March 2018, who, on 22 March 2018, was appointed Judge of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT). The appointment by António Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, was in replacement to the MICT, following the resignation of Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa, who was elected to the International Criminal Court.
Before that, she sat on the High Court of Uganda, where she was assigned to the International Crimes Division of that court. She lectured on the Law of Contract, Insurance and the Law of Contract at Ahmadu Bello University Kaduna State Nigeria and at the National University of Lesotho. She worked with the Central Bank of Lesotho and consulted with the Ministry of Finance in Uganda, the World Bank and the Ministry of Justice in Uganda.
She has worked as a judge for several International Courts including; the Special Court for Sierra-Leone, and the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She also worked with the Law Firm of Katende, Ssepebwa and Company Advocates.
She graduated from the Faculty of Law of Makerere University, Uganda’s largest and oldest public university, with a Bachelor of Laws. She then obtained a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. She also holds a Master of Laws from the University of New Haven, in West Haven, Connecticut, United States. She has undertaken several postgraduate courses, including one at the International Development Law Organization, in Rome, Italy in 1992.
During the process of creating Uganda’s 1995 Constitution, Ibanda-Nahamya was a researcher for the Constituent Assembly. She also served as a legal adviser to the Constituent Assembly Women Caucus. She also worked as a researcher at the Uganda Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, where she participated in drafting the Parliamentary Election Bill and the Presidential Election Bill. In 1993, she served as a legal consultant at the Uganda Ministry of Finance.
She served as a judge on the Special Court for Sierra Leone, from 2004 until 2008 and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, from 1996 until 2004. Justice Nahamya has also lectured at Ahmadu Bello University, in Zaria, Nigeria and at the National University of Lesotho, in Maseru, Lesotho. She has also consulted with the World Bank.