Uganda Law Society (ULS) President Isaac Ssemakadde and advocacy NGO AGORA’s Agather Atuhaire have been engaged in a war of words.
It all started when Ssemakadde’s ULS said it would go on a fact finding mission – meeting the General Court Martial members, Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo – over the sentencing of Dr Kizza Besigye lawyer Eron Kiiza for alleged contempt of court.
Agather Atuhaire called out Ssemakadde telling him his methods do not constitute the banging of tables he promised when he was campaigning to become Uganda Law Society President.
“Supreme Leader [Ssemakadde] this is not the banging of tables you promised your voters. A fact-finding mission to find out what? A meeting with CJ [Owiny Dollo] to tell him what that he doesn’t already know?” Atuhaire asked Ssemakadde.
“Also, I had hoped you raised the issues of the continued trial of civilians in military courts, the damage caused by his irrational stay of the execution of the CC decision in Kabaziguruka, his sitting on that appeal for 4 years, during the sumptuous lunch you shared with him recently my worry is that these legal and diplomatic avenues you seek will take as long as the appeal has taken and [Eron Kiiza] will have finished serving that illegal, unfair, harsh sentence and civilians will still be tossed around in that tribunal that doesn’t care about the law, people’s rights and tenets as basic as a fair hearing.”
In response, Ssemakadde issued a statement, warning Ugandans denouncing “cowardly protest announcements.”
“The Uganda Law Society (ULS) categorically repudiates the cowardly attempts by certain individuals to provoke and manipulate our institution into sanctioning protest actions regarding the recent detention of one of our members. These deliberate misrepresentations, particularly through social media and self-proclaimed press statements, appear designed to goad the Society into precipitous action outside our established institutional framework,” he wrote.
“As the statutory regulator of the legal profession, the ULS operates through rigorous protocols and informed responses. Those self-seekers attempting to present their private initiatives as ULS-endorsed activities, or to portray the Society as backing their personal agendas, do a disservice to both the profession and our ongoing institutional efforts.
“The ULS currently provides legal aid to protestors strictly on an after-the-fact basis, subject to resource availability and our members’ voluntary participation. While we respect the citizen’s constitutional right to peaceful assembly, we will not be pressured or manipulated into premature before-the-event commitments or other rash actions that could compromise our independence. The Society maintains its commitment to protecting its members and resolving this situation through Section 10 of the Uganda Law Society Act, Cap 305.”
Agather Atuhaire and other activists went on with their protest march to the Supreme Court but they were arrested.
Just days ago, Agather Atuhaire was in a war of words with another activist Anthony Natif, with whom she had a personal relationship according to her own confession. (See Details Here).
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