Conan Businge
5 July 2009
Kampala — PROF. Kenneth Starr, who exposed former US president Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, was in Uganda as a guest of the judiciary.
Starr, who currently serves as dean of Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California, attended the launch of Justice James Ogoola's book, Songs of Paradise in Kampala and signed a cooperation agreement with the judiciary.
When The New Vision asked him if he regretted having carried out the investigation against Clinton, he said: "It just confirmed that the US has a strong system of checks and balances in government."
"I rightly executed my duty and I have no regrets in having done so," Starr added.
In his sworn testimony Clinton had denied having "sexual relations" with Monica Lewinsky.
But basing on evidence, Starr said the testimony was false.
Before the Starr Grand Jury, Clinton said he believed the definition of 'sexual relations' excluded oral sex.
Starr's investigation eventually led to the unsuccessful impeachment of Clinton, with whom he shared the Time's Man of the Year title for 1998.
Starr said being part of the investigation helped build his confidence.
He was on Friday hosted at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala where he presented a paper at a dinner hosted by the judiciary.
In his presentation, Starr said the rule of law should be universal.
"All of us have to ensure that there is rule of law and access to justice with no discrimination," he noted.
Starr called for the sensitisation of the public on the Constitution.
He also appealed to the judiciary to "maintain a country dedicated to the rule of law".
Starr, a former judge and solicitor general, also led the investigations of the suicide death of the deputy White House counsel, Vince Foster, and the Whitewater land transactions.
He was United States Solicitor General from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush Sr.
Present at the dinner was the Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki and Principal Judge James Ogoola.
Ogoola said there was need to combine the traditional legal system with the Western one.
"We have so many Western laws, but we need to also look at our traditional system of arbitration," he said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
