Interview with Professor Kenneth K. Mwenda, Part II

Kenneth Mwenda

By Charles Mwewa

In Part I, we focused our interview of Professor Kenneth K. Mwenda on his early childhood and the challenges he had to overcome to stride the heights. In Part II, our focus is on what motivated the professor to make the law his profession and to sample some of his books.

(Charles Mwewa [CM]): What made you choose law other than other professionals?

(Kenneth K. Mwenda [KKM]):     I have always had a curious mind. And I knew that I was very gifted at the social sciences. So, law came as a natural choice especially that it provides an enabling environment for other professionals to practice their professions or to allow them to do what they do. But I am also a bit of a perfectionist. So, for me, studying law was not enough. I wanted to view law from a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective. So, I have studied additionally many other disciplines. I am not only a lawyer, but also a financial regulatory expert, with additional qualifications in several other cognate disciplines.

(CM): Tell our readers, how many books have you written so far; what motivates you to write and where do you find the time?

(KKM): I have written twenty-five (25) books now, with an additional two forthcoming soon. In addition, I have written over eighty (80) journal articles in top rated peer-reviewed academic journals worldwide. For me, writing is a hobby. It comes naturally. Many people are afraid to write because they fear rejection from the publishers. But you cannot learn or improve if you are constantly avoiding such challenges. And time should never be an issue. We all do make time for whatever we love to do. By parity of reasoning, one can always set aside a bit of time to write if you are really committed to writing. Nobody is too busy for what they like to do or what they are passionate about. They will almost always find time.

(CM):    In one of your books published this year, Public Intellectualism &

Socio-political Inquiry through Metaphor and Musing, you make the following observation: “I opine, verily and truly, what defines the ultimate test for the legacy of an eminent leader in the law is the indelible and distinguished contribution that one makes to the development of the law for the benefit of posterity and those that will ever come in contact with such contribution.” Please elaborate.

(KKM): Many thanks. In a nutshell, we cannot be quoted or remembered by posterity for the oral submissions that we, as lawyers, make in court. Rather, the judgement that a judge writes is what will be quoted and remembered. Likewise, we cannot be quoted or remembered for the legal agreements that we draft or negotiate. They are not ours, as individuals. And we often, as individual lawyers, do not even have the intellectual property rights over such documents. But the scholarly books and other scholarly publications that we churn out will forever be in our names. And we have the intellectual property rights to those works. Nobody, and I mean, nobody, is allowed to steal ideas from such works without acknowledging the name of the author.

(CM):    You have contributed tremendously to the development of the law industry in Zambia, such as through your books as well as honorary/visiting/extraordinary professorships at some Zambian universities. Can you detail us how this has been?

(KKM):  Many thanks. Greatly appreciated. I do what I do for my country as a way to help out. I do not do it for money. For example, I travelled to Zambia in 2001, using my own funds, to serve as Visiting Professor of Law at UNZA. I was not getting paid for that. Neither was I offered any hotel or office accommodation by UNZA. So, I had to buy my own air ticket from the USA to Zambia and back to the USA. In Lusaka, I stayed with a family member. And UNZA did not provide me with any office space to work from. I was basically working from the university library. But that did not bother me. I delivered all my lectures fully well in public international law, and flew back to the USA.

Currently, I also serve as Extraordinary Professor of Law at the University of Lusaka (UNILUS). Again, that appointment is not a salaried position. I only do what I do to help our country and people. Further, I have on several occasions bought and donated several books to UNZA Library using my own money. Most of the librarians there even know me now. Recently, I have done the same for Mulungushi University. And I don’t mind. It is about our people and country.

Apart from the aforesaid academic appointments in Zambia, I have also held many other senior academic appointments at leading universities in the United Kingdom, the USA and South Africa. Further details are on my website.

This ends Part II of our interview of Professor Mwenda. In Part III and last interview, Professor Mwenda will explore the Rule of Law and how the law is related to development.