High Court Judge Musa Ssekaana has ordered the arrest of Uganda Law Society (ULS) President Isaac Ssemakadde to serve a two-year jail term for contempt of court.
Ssemakadde was found guilty of making derogatory and scandalous remarks against the judiciary through his social media platforms.
Justice Ssekaana emphasized that the courts must take preventive action to deter future attacks on the judiciary and while citizens, including Ssemakadde, have the right to criticize the judiciary, they must avoid intemperate statements and personal attacks on judicial officers.
“The repeated nature of the attacks by a person knowledgeable in legal matters and duly elected as president of Uganda Law Society invites this court to send a strong warning and caution against future contemnors ‘foot soldiers’ and respondents in the main cause to desist from such conduct in future,” Ssekaana ruled.
Ssekaana noted that the threat to judicial independence, through personal attacks on the judicial officers and peddling of disinformation and false information about judicial officers and decisions of court amplified by social media must be checked.
“Threatening statements like what the respondent tweeted are extremely inappropriate and they are dangerous to the rule of law and ought to be punished. The statements of the respondent have emboldened other members of the public who are now extending threats of sharing judicial officers telephone contacts and or residential addresses which poses a security risk.” Ssekaana ruled.
The ruling comes after Ssemakadde published a series of offensive posts on his social media handles, including the hashtag #SsekaanaMustGo. These posts alleged that the judge was biased and undermining the independence of the legal profession. Ssemakadde also used explicit and demeaning language against Justice Ssekaana.
The court delivered its ruling without Ssemakadde’s response, as he declined to file one. This ruling is not the first of its kind, as Justice Ssekaana previously sentenced lawyer Hassan Male Mabirizi to 18 months in prison for similar offenses in 2022.
The Chief Justice, Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, had also vowed to take action against Ssemakadde if he did not stop his unbecoming behavior of abusing judges and render an apology.
In a related development, Justice Ssekaana quashed the decision of ULS and its head of election committee Moses Mwase, which had excluded Ms Pheona Nabasa Gladys Wall from the list of duly nominated candidates for the elective position of respondent’s representatives to the Judicial Service Commission.
