Lawyer writes book on avoiding legal pitfalls in business

Sam Mayanja is a seasoned lawyer who knows the ins and outs of the legal profession in Uganda.

As one of the senior partners of Kampala Associated Advocates, he has handled some of the most prominent cases that have changed the course of legal history.

He believes that this legal history and other social political development need to be shared and synthesised in a book for the benefit of scholars, lawyers, journalists, researchers and other people who may be interested in law.

That is why he has authored a book, "Counsel Sam Mayanja's Guide", which touches many subjects ranging from business, politics, land, cultural institutions and other matters of national importance.

It was authored by Samuel Mayanja, a distinguished professional and senior advocate  with Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA), one of the leading legal practices in Uganda and East Africa in general.

The cover page of the book carries the picture of the gentle smiling Sam Mayanja, who is also a popular and regular columnist of The Nile Post.

The book caters for different categories of people and of different ages, who are already in businesses and those starting their own enterprises and giving guidance about “how companies can avoid legal liabilities.

A specialist in banking and finance and; a lawyer who has won several accolades during his profession, Mayanja also dedicates five pages in his publication to entrepreneurs; to help business people, especially his readers, to avoid closure of their business enterprises or how to circumvent running their companies into bankruptcy.

Concerning politics, Mayanja peeps into the 2021 elections while looking back at what he wrote in 2015, a year before the 2016 presidential elections, comparing that period with the current one in which amplified voices of the need for the political opposition to form a coalition to win the elections or take over power.

Mayanja’s book is also a collection of so many of his earlier articles in which he calls a spade a spade and; not a gardening tool.

He reminds his readers of the time he appeared before “The Bamugemereire’s Land Probe Commission” that had been intrigued by his writings that had been published and had the opportunity to give his technical-know-how..

The book also talks of the land tenure system in Buganda and how it works.

Mayanja is not oblivious to the fact that the young generation would like to know about the infamous 1966 crisis and who was to blame for its occurrence.

He writes deeply about it.

In his forward to the book, Simon Peter Kinobe, the current president of the Uganda Law Society, a body that brings together all members of the legal fraternity, stated that he knows Mayanja “as a man of integrity, who is candid in his views and; one who is not easily subdued when it comes to airing out his views; which is an outstanding quality that calls for celebration."

A strong believer in Christianity, Mayanja’s evangelism started way back as a street preacher at the age 13 in Bwaise, a Kampala city suburban thickly populated area.

His life, he writes, was greatly influenced by his great grandfather the famous Apollo Kivebulaya.

According to his book, Kivebulaya, who had been forcefully conscripted in the Muslim army in the 1880s, deserted and joined Christianity after witnessing atrocities perpetrated on the infidels. So, no wonder, Sam Mayanja has taken over from his great patriarch and combined preaching with his law practice.

Who is Sam Mayanja?

Sam Mayanja, currently at KAA hails from Mityana district.  He started his early education at Mityana Primary School at Namukozi, Lubiri SS for his ‘O’ level, King’s College Budo for his ‘A’ and Makerere University where he graduated with Bachelor’s and Master of Laws degrees, becoming the first Ugandan student to graduate with a Master of Laws Degree at Makerere University in 1980.

At 50,000, the book is worth every penny.

The book can be found at all branches of Aristoc bookshop and other book stores.