On occasions, you felt the often-eloquent legislator would not last the entire show; he teetered on walking out. But this is Muhammad ‘Asadu’ Nsereko, the battle-hardened city-born famed for his street smartness. So, he stood his ground and punched back.
If he was not heckling, he was bullying and patronising to both moderator and his co-panellist. Repeating himself on end, he would bully the host once interrupted: “Can I finish?” “Do you want him to speak or I speak?” and the host would hold back.
Then, when his co-panellist started, he quipped patronizingly: “this young man came with his monologue… he has something on his head!”
But if Nsereko is battle-hardened, he had met a pugilist like no other. The self-professed ‘legal rebel’ does not call himself so for no reason. Like Chinua Achebe’s Okonkwo during the wrestling match against Amalinze, the cat, Ssemakadde was sleek and slippery like a fish in water.
Performatively donned in sneakers, jeans, and T-shirt, and an army fatigues jacket — on a show where panellists are expected
to show up in suits as Nsereko was — the contrast and messaging were unmistakeable. Ssemakadde had come for battle. He debated lucidly and attacked brutally.
Sometimes, the legal rebel delayed responding to Nsereko’s floundering submissions, which was actually a trap the legislator unwittingly fell in. He would go on to repeat himself as if he had not been heard. But the more he repeated himself, the more unintelligible his monologues became to the point that the moderator often got forced to hush him up.
“You have made that point many times.”
And when he decided to debate, Ssemakadde was clinical: he challenged the MP whether he was aware of already existing legislations against cuber harassment and computer misuse under which people Dr Stella Nyanzi – were erroneously sentenced.
And after all has been said, Ssemakadde delivered the anthem for freedom of speech: “We want our right to call you a fool,
and a dimwit, and a stupid man… that is our constitutional right…”
At this point, the debate had reached its crescendo as the ever-loquacious legislator resorted to heckling and more bullying.
This prompted Ssemakadde to immediately exercise his constitutional right thenceforth, calling the MP a fool, a dimwit, and stupid man. Sheer pandemonium was let loose as the atmosphere got more heated. Commercial breaks alone were not enough, and NTV production decided to end the show. Comrade Nsereko must have left the studios bruised and crestfallen.
Dear reader, I am not necessarily interested in the desecration and unmasking of a supposedly “independent” political player who masquerades as supportive of civil liberties and forces of change. I am, rather, interested in the inspiring lawyerism and rebel politics of Counsel Ssemakadde. There are three things I wish to emphasise — among others — that ought to be credited to Isaac Ssemakadde (and a couple other folks, of course):
First, whatever our cultural and religious inclinations, it is undeniable that our pretensions for civility and morality have been deftly exploited by Museveni and his co-conspirators. See, while Museveni and co. treat Ugandans like trash, murdering them for sport (Luweero, 1980-86, Kasese, 2016, Kampala, 2020, etc.); torturing (Nalufenya, safe houses), stealing our taxes (many examples), and then mortgaging our economy to Mzungu colonialists (coffee, banks, communication), Ugandans still insist on civil and disciplined responses.
Consider this, even when every Ugandan knows Nsereko’s bill is absolute nonsense, they expected a measured-disciplined conversation with Counsel Ssemakadde. Why? So, kudos to Counsel Sssemakadde, Dr Stella Nyanzi and Kakwenza Rukirabashaija for stepping outside of this morality trap and delivering our anger in the best packaging.
Second, it is an open secret that for an autocracy to sustain itself – in all the empires – it needs a complicit regime of legal practice. Not just corrupt or cadre judges. judges. Kampala’s elitist, fortune-hunting and extortionist law firms have been a core ingredient in Museveni’s tyranny.
If ordinary folks find the lawyers out of their reach, then the oppressor finds it easy to oppress. Ever wondered why Ofwono Opondo and Chris Baryomunsi find it easy challenging their opponents to go to court? It is because they know their opponents are too poor to afford Kampala’s ignorant lawyers.
Donned in cheap Turkish-made suits and speaking big English, Kampala’s lawyers have made themselves inaccessible in ways that only warm Museveni’s heart. Thus, land grabbers and all other state-sanctioned criminals go to work fully aware that their victims are too poor to afford these arrogant lawyers.
This state of affairs is being demystified by Ssemakadde’s lawyering. You have seen pictures of him out in the famous Black Panther costume and in combat military boots during a court appearance. These display a friendlier playfulness that is resonant with the wretcheds.
Thirdly, it is an open secret that our friends in ‘institutionalised opposition politics’ have been overwhelmed by the Museveni machine (with either money, women or open violence), and are simply “performing opposition” but score in the same goal as Museveni.
And we should not blame them, for resisting democratised authoritarianism is simply convoluted. So, folks like Isaac Ssemakadde, Kakwenza Rukira, Stella Nyanzi and a couple others remain our only genuine opposition. Using their expertise for activism remains a major missing ingredient in our politics. [I will develop this point more next week].
The author is a political theorist based at Makerere University.
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