During the opening of the New Law Year, chief justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo found himself in the middle of a battle of egos with the Isaac Ssemakadde, the president of the Uganda Law Society (ULS).
The chief justice publicly criticized Ssemakadde for what he called unethical behaviour, public insults, and attempts to tarnish the judiciary’s reputation. Owiny-Dollo warned that individuals attacking judicial officers would bear the consequences of their actions.
What appeared like a mere threat was followed by the decision of Justice Musa Ssekaana which condemned Sssemakadde to two years in prison for contempt of court when he made what was termed as scandalous and derogatory statements about the judiciary on his social media platform.
This decision was followed by another from Buganda Road court after several attempts to compel Sssemakadde to appear before the chief magistrate to answer charges of insulting Jane Frances Abodo the current director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
Unlike the previous instances where the DPP would quickly apply to take over cases filed by private individuals, this time round, Ssemakadde’s friends turned enemies Joshua Byamazima and Tonny Tumukunde were given a green light to continue with the private prosecution and are determined to use the judiciary to “prosecute” a man that has found himself in between the premolar teeth of the very system that he wanted to put in check.
When Ssemakadde took over office, he took several drastic decisions, including expelling the Attorney General from being a decision maker of the ULS executive and also raised a red flag against the representation of ULS at the Judicial Service Commission, whose mandate had expired but continued serving.
He also took a swipe at some government agencies that were in his view wanting in the manner in which they were executing their mandate. Whereas that was part of Ssemakadde duty as head of the society, some saw his approach as being too radical.
So, when a chief justice says individuals attacking judicial officers would bear the consequences of their actions, it is hard to tell whether the current international warrant of arrest is not one of the threatened actions aimed at clipping and gagging Ssemakadde.
Matters are made worse that Sekaana has been elevated to the Court of Appeal where Ssemakadde would have to run to stay execution and or to appeal, it’s a rock and a hard place for the ULS president.
I am an ardent believer in radicalism but I also know that there are limits to everything but I do not believe Ssemakadde should be placed on a wanted list for such a small offence. His absence does not amount to contumacy to warrant such a harsh order of international nature.
Besides, Uganda’s Extradition Act is also mindful that some overzealous persons can obtain warrants that are impossible to implement or that are not worth implementing, especially for countries like Uganda with a very bad international record on human rights abuses.
Even the court itself is empowered to reject an application for an International warrant of arrest where the subject matter is trivial in nature or where the application for the return of the prisoner is not being made in good faith in the interests of justice or otherwise.
In the instant case, the person who should have been offended most as far as the main issue is concerned in Justice Abodo who is simply not bothered but is going about her business; who is fighting for her?
Countries all over the world have undertakings to extradite suspects accused or convicts or specific offences and will only do so if the pending order is not politically motivated. Many are only comfortable implementing arrest warrants especially from the international criminal court for individuals accused of committing international crimes such as war crimes, genocide and or crimes against humanity.
These warrants depend on the member countries and their level of cooperation in the arrest and surrender of the accused individuals. Indeed Ssemakadde is challenging all arrest warrants issued against him asserting that they are unjustified and politically motivated.
A petition is gathering dust before the High court, seeking cancellation of the orders issued by Buganda Road Chief Magistrates court in criminal case No. 913 of 2024. In the petition to the High court, Ssemakadde, through his lawyers, Gem Advocates, argued that the lower court (Buganda Road chief magistrates court) unjustifiably declined to stay the impugned proceedings pending revision.
To Ssemakadde, that denial severely jeopardized his liberty and right to a fair hearing. Above all, unlike the High court with unlimited jurisdiction, Magistrates courts are limited to certain distance called geographical jurisdiction by virtue of the Magistrates courts (Magisterial creas and Magistrates courts) Instrument, 2024 beyond which their orders cannot operate.
Buganda road court which issued the order has its space limited to a few areas not beyond Kampala. How then can it issue an international warrant?
The author is a commentator on political, legal and social issues
wadroger@yahoo.ca
Counsel Wadada, where else could this happen? “Buganda road court which issued the order has its space limited to a few areas not beyond Kampala. How then can it issue an international warrant?” “Only in Uganda.” Lack of rule of law is the root cause of M7’s autocratic system. M7 doesn’t believe in rule of law but family rule [anarchy], built on militantism. Chief of organized criminal, Dollo, is not ashamed of publicly issuing baseless threats against a leader of the lawyers! M7, as president of the country has called the opposition leaders all kinds of names including but not limited to, pigs, thugs and others. Why didn’t Dollo come out to condemn that? Radical times require radical people like Semakadde. Uganda is led by radicals who captured our state by means of the gun and violence, which per se is criminal. So, Dollo is only interested in silencing Semakadde because, he was on truck to further expose the judiciary as a useless institution, and simply an extension of the executive.