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KIU Alumnus, Swaleh Hemed Appointed Lecturer of law at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan University

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By Isaac Akugizibwe

KIU Main Campus-Swaleh Hemed Wengo one of the most extraordinary lawyers KIU has produced in recent years has been appointed lecturer of law at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan University. He attributes his triumph to consistency and hard work.

The Kenyan international is widely known for his brilliance, hardwork, and consistency at KIU'S school of law. Indeed he had no different answer when asked about the magic behind his extraordinary milestone.

"The magic behind the success has been hard work and consistency. There is no shortcut to success. I always say “There is nothing good that comes the easy way”. You have to put in the work to get the fruits," he said.

Wengo who traveled to Saudi Arabia on Saturday has been showered with congratulatory messages from the KIU legal fraternity including the Forum for Ideas where he once served as principal coordinator and creative director during his time as a student.

 Among the people that expressed heartwarming messages towards him, was the former patron of Forum for Ideas Mr. Kareem Abdul Azeez who was also his former lecturer at the school of law. Kareem attributed his success to selflessness and talent in advocacy. 

"He has shown greatness as a student and that was why FFI was able to spot and groomed him. He is one of the few students who have succeeded in participating in most of the Moot Competitions. His style of presentation is always forceful and as far as Moot Competition is concerned, he is a force to reckon with," Kareem said.

"As the then PC of FFI, he demonstrated selfless leadership qualities and was able to manage the expectations of members. He is the best President, the Law Society never had. He has a special gift in advocacy and is talented," he added.

Kareem also said that Wengo's achievement is just the beginning of the revelations of what he is capable of and that his appointment was something that never surprised him.

"For some of us, it was not a surprise. He is surely destined for Greatness. I can only advise him to focus and the world will soon learn of another great man from Africa," he noted.

Wengo also showed gratitude towards Forum for Ideas and commended the forum for inspiring his success story.

"Well, you have a platform to achieve whatever you want. The same knowledge you acquire is the same one that you need to compete in the world. As long as you are committed then there is nothing you can't achieve."

" I can assure you that there is nothing extraordinary about the other students across the world. As for FFI, I would say the platform has a lot of credit to go for my success. The discipline and the achievements of my senior members are things I admired. They pushed me to do better and being in the forum is a privilege that everyone should aspire to," he said.

 Swaleh Hemed Wengo Graduated with a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB) from Kampala International University. He was one of the top graduates during his year and went on to work as a lecturer in Mogadishu Somalia before starting his LLM (Public Law) at Koç University in Turkey. 

The legal gladiator also obtained two postgraduate qualifications on issues to do with international and African law on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information, and Safety of Journalists from the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria and Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford.

 He has worked on areas in international law revolving around the UN international law commission's work on state responsibility. Apart from being an excellent participant in moot court competitions across the world with the most recent success being the best oralist in the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot at the Palais Des Nations (United Nations) in Geneva, he has been behind the huge successes of moot court competitions at KIU being a team coach together with the KIU Moot Coordinator.

He is currently the Director of Operations and Logistics at Firdaous Integrated Services (FIS) and he has just been appointed a lecturer of Law at Prince Sultan University. His areas of research cover public international law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, international human rights law as well as investment law and arbitration.