By Agnes Kiconco

KIU, Main Campus : Inspired by his God Mother Honourable Hellen Namutamba, Smith Kiiza a dedicated young lawyer has been driven to pursue greatness as Uganda's next top advocate.  

Just at the age of 26, one would be astonished by how much the ambitious Kiiza has achieved. With several Ugandans pursuing their Masters Degrees in their 30s, Kiiza is currently pursuing his Masters in law and hopes to complete this year (2023).

"In 2022, I decided to take up a Masters Degree in Law, with a scholarship from the Government of India. I will be completing my Masters this year 2023 and I start my PhD program as well this year," narrated Kiiza, adding that he hopes and believes that by 28 years, he will have finished his PhD program.

"This may make me the youngest lawyer in Uganda with a PhD in Law," he manifested, noting that this makes him very happy since it could be a safe passage for him to become an international lawyer just like he has always visioned.

Besides his education background, Kiiza is also an accomplished writer and Author of over 20 books, including law books, spiritual books, business guides, relationships books, and Christian books all available on Amazon and all the online bookshops, and has different publications published in international journals like in vidhia Agaz journal including the rights of accused and also the rights of children with disabilities, among others. He said that he has also presented different papers in different international conferences including International Conference on Human Rights and Constitution Law. 

More to this, the young Advocate also greatly participated in the research drafting and guiding of various bills and Acts of parliament like the Local Governments Act, NSSF Act, Parliamentary Elections Act, and Presidential Election Act However he also drafted and introduced the Tree Planning Bill alone to the parliamentary legal committee.

Sharing more of his success stories, Kiiza was happy to narrate how he started law practice immediately after his LDC clerkship.

"I started my career as a Legal Assistant with Katende, Ssempebwa and Company Advocates, a reputable law firm, where I gained practical experience in drafting pleadings in preparation for court process, interviewing clients to ascertain the facts of the private cases and offering legal advice to various private litigants on the various laws," he narrated.

As a former Kampala International University (KIU) student, Kiiza believes that not even the sky is the limit so there's need to give hope to students because it's as a result of opportunities at the leading private university that he was able to perform highly, join LDC, and chase his dreams, an accomplishment he described as a groundbreaker to his journey to success.

"It's because of opportunities at KIU that I became a lawyer, then a young advocate because of LDC, I strongly give credit to these institutions," he emphasized, urging KIU students to believe in themselves and the university to attain the much sought after succes.

As one of the KIU opportunities, Kiiza was granted the honour to execute his urge and passion to share legal knowledge with the upcoming legal generation.

"I have been a part-time lecturer at Kampala International University and Islamic University in Uganda where I have taught Administrative Law, International Trade and Investments and Intellectual Property Rights and more others," he revealed.

Shedding light on his future plans, Kiiza who is a registered member of Uganda law society and East Africa law society, hopes to become an international lawyer. Journeying towards this, he has registered in the Asian law society, and is currently working on getting registered to start his practice in India.

Asked why he is focused on Asian countries, Kiiza revealed that Asians contribute over 50 percent to the world population and currently, they have alot of businesses in Africa. So as a lawyer majoring in criminal practice, land practice, family practice, and civil ligation, gaining ground in these Asian countries is a good strategy.

Besides making it as an international lawyer, Kiiza also dreams of working for the UN organizations, and one of their qualifications is to have a master’s degree in law, something he is already working on.

As he continues to journey towards becoming Uganda's next top advocate, Kiiza encourages students especially law students to believe in God, keep praying, build connections and network because it is as a result of all this and his family's support that he has been able to make all the achievements in such a short span of time.