Kampala-based lawyer and lecturer Robert Kirunda has graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the University of Cape Town, capping years of rigorous academic work with a thesis that pushes for reforms in Uganda’s natural resource taxation laws spanning the period from 1900 to 2022.
The graduation, which took place on March 28, 2026, marks a significant milestone in an already distinguished legal career. Kirunda holds an LLB from Makerere University, a postgraduate diploma in law, and an LLM obtained cum laude from the University of the Western Cape. He further added an LLM from Stanford University in 2024, making his Cape Town doctorate the latest in a string of high-level academic achievements.
Beyond the classroom, Kirunda is the founder of Kirunda & Co. Advocates, a law firm based in Kampala. He also serves as a lecturer at Makerere University School of Law and holds membership of the Permanent Court of Arbitration — an international intergovernmental organisation that provides dispute resolution services to states, intergovernmental organisations and private parties.
His PhD thesis, focusing on natural resource taxation in Uganda over more than a century, is expected to contribute meaningfully to ongoing policy conversations around how Uganda manages and taxes its natural wealth, a subject of growing importance as the country develops its oil and minerals sectors.
The news drew warm congratulations from peers across Uganda’s legal community. Prominent human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo was among those who publicly celebrated the achievement, using the occasion to call for authentic paths of intellectual growth. Opiyo praised Kirunda’s real accomplishments amid what he described as widespread fake degree culture, urging others to pursue genuine routes of reading, writing and research.
