Following the fall of the Amin's regime in 1979, Tarsis Kabwegyere was appointed Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, serving in that position until 1980. From 1982 until 1987, he was the Head of Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Makerere University, Uganda's oldest university, which was founded in 1922. Following the removal of Milton Obote from power and the overthrow of the military junta of Tito Okello, Kabwegyere became a member of the National Resistance Council, the parliamentary body in Uganda from 1986 until 1996.