A young Ugandan lawyer has been forced into exile after facing intimidation, threats, and police summonses for his work defending human rights and speaking out against corruption.
Kizito Enock, a former Clerk to the Executive Council at the Uganda Law Society, says his troubles began when he handled sensitive cases involving government abuse of power, corruption in the judiciary, corruption and the persecution of minority groups under Uganda’s controversial Anti-Homosexuality law.
“What began as subtle warnings quickly turned into open threats,” Kizito recalls. “Police summonses were issued not because I broke the law, but because I upheld it.”
Fearing for his life, Kizito fled Uganda, driving through the night from Kampala to Kigali, before continuing into Tanzania where he later fled to Europe. He left behind his family, career, and everything he had built.
The Uganda Law Society, long regarded as the defender of the rule of law, was powerless to protect one of its own. “They could only look on,” he says, “as I became a victim of the very oppression we were fighting against.”
Now living in exile, Kizito reflects on the price of justice in Uganda. “If a lawyer can be exiled for defending the law,” he says, “what hope is left for the powerless?”
His story echoes a growing concern among human rights defenders who say that Uganda’s civic space continues to shrink, leaving lawyers, journalists, and activists increasingly vulnerable for doing their jobs.
