Isaac Ssemakadde was elected president of the Uganda Law Society (ULS) at the weekend. But some lawyers, most of whom did not vote him, do not necessarily approve of his leadership skills. One lawyer has predicted that Isaac Ssemakadde Will Dump Uganda Law Society in River Nile.
Joshua Byamazima, a partner at Trust Law Advocates and Solicitors, is one of the advocates who think Ssemakadde may not do much table banging as he promised. Ssemakadde’s campaign ran under the slogan ‘Bang the Table.’
Ssemakadde also emphasized ideals like decolonization, demilitarization and digitization, which Byamazima argues believe that Ssemakadde was not running for the ULS presidency but for the Ugandan presidency, and that he had made the legal race too political.
Byamazima also suspects that Ssemakadde has some unexplained grudge against Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka. He predicted that Ssemakadde will not have banged any major tables in about four months.
“Call me four months from now to assess. Isaac Ssemakadde won’t bang any table. Do you think you are going to walk into the office of the Attorney General and bang his table?” he asked when he appeared for NBS TV’s Morning Breeze.
“Do you think you are going to walk into the office of the Chief Justice and bang his table?”
Appearing alongside him was Ivan Bwowe, who supports the Ssemakadde ideology, told Byamazima that the anti-Ssemakadde group need to know that the slogan was nonliteral.
“These people think banging tables is the actual banging of tables; it’s figurative speech,” said Bwowe, adding that the group opposed to Ssemakadde were struggling to come to terms with his victory.
“There are stages of grief. My colleagues are at a certain stage they know better,” Bwowe stung.
But Byamazima insisted that Ssemakadde was just “a barking dog” that seldom bites. He also expressed his worry that the new ULS president would sink the country’s law society.
“I would suggest just looking at the character of the individual now at the helm of Uganda Law Society, he is not leading it upward. He will drive the Uganda Law Society into River Nile, that’s for certain,” submitted Byamazima.
“I can tell you for guarantee, that yes, he is a good leader, he is a brilliant gentleman but leadership requires more than quoting and being in court. It goes far beyond strategic litigation, it goes far beyond public litigation.”
For Ssemakadde’s leadership to thrive, he might need to work with people like the Attorney General and Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo. For example, explained Byamazima after the show, it would be the Chief Justice who confer the title of Senior Counsel on Ssemakadde.
“… according to the rules, when you become president of the Uganda Law Society, you become eligible for the title of Senior Counsel. However, this title must be conferred upon you by the Chief Justice in consultation with the Senior Counsel Committee,” he explained.
“As stated in Regulation 4, the President of ULS shall be awarded the rank of Senior Counsel, but there is a formal process for obtaining the title. I suggest you take the time to consult with Senior Counsel or even the Attorney General for clarity. To emphasize, being elected as President of the Uganda Law Society does not automatically grant you the title of Senior Counsel.”
After being elected ULS president, Isaac Ssemakadde scoffed at his enemies and attacked his predecessor Bernard Oundo, labelling him a failure. (See Details and listen to full speech Here).
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