By Kakwenza Rukirabashaija
When you listen to my senior, Isaac Ssemakadde Kimaze, president of the Uganda Law Society, you cannot miss the profundity of his conviction. He speaks of what he loves most, a judiciary that functions, that stands upright like a pillar or spires of granite, doctrinally perpendicular, decolonised to fit African forgotten jurisprudence, and staffed by judicial officers chosen on the basis of merit rather than political mediocrity.
In a country where too many judges are handpicked for their loyalty to the appointing authority rather than their fidelity to justice, such a vision is nothing short of revolutionary. You realise immediately that he is the right man to lead the judiciary. The tragedy, however, is that the very person who has been appointing mediocre judges, the one who benefits most from their pliability, would never willingly appoint a reformer who threatens the architecture of oppression.
That paradox tells the whole story of Uganda’s judiciary today. The appointing authority consolidates himself in power through such mediocre appointments, the appointments that will propel impunity that describes the establishment.
When Ssemakadde first presented his manifesto to lead the Bar, I campaigned for him without hesitation. I saw in him the rare courage and brilliance that the profession had been starved of for decades. I have admired how he has defended unpopular reforms, resisted political persecution, and reminded us that law without justice is nothing but tyranny encased in judicial robes. He has been my mentor, my senior, my guiding light in the practice of law. His battles, whether in courtrooms or in the wider public sphere, have never been about personal glory but about reclaiming the dignity of the Ugandan legal profession.
The legal profession has been stripped of dignity, and it has become impossible to practice law genuinely because the mediocrity of judges have turned court rooms into crime scenes and such an environment cannot dispense justice.
Seasons change and leadership must evolve. It is now time that I extend my support to my long-time attorney and comrade, Eron Kiiza, to head the Uganda Law Society. His indefatigable spirit, honed through years of human rights litigation and environmental activism, makes him well suited to carry the torch forward from Mr. Ssemakadde. I am not interested in whatever personal disagreements that may exist between these two great men. Their quarrels and recriminations are their own, and I have no business in them. What concerns me is the continuity of bold, uncompromising leadership at the Bar.
To my mind, the achievements of Mr. Ssemakadde remain monumental. They would have been even greater had he not been constantly distracted by pachydermatous nincompoops in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and certain incompetent fools seated comfortably in judicial robes. These petty choleric detractors sought to frustrate his decolonisation agenda, but even so, he managed to rattle the status quo. He banged the tables and the skeletons of fear of institutional reforms and mediocrity rattled in fear. The bangs sent tremors through corridors of power and that alone is a great testimony to his indubitable courage. Unsurprisingly, the establishment plotted his downfall, first through his colleagues at the Bar who lost the election to him, then by unleashing the likes of Jane Frances Abodo, Musa Ssekana, and Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka to frustrate him through both institutional and public toxic manipulation.
Mr. Ssemakadde, I salute you and wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavours. Your name will remain embroidered in our professional memory as the lawyer who dared, the president of the Bar who towered and banged tables, and the advocate who reminded us that silence in the face of injustice is complicity.
The author is a Ugandan Lawyer and award winning Author.
