Applicant responds with more insults as Supreme Court judges task him to explain abuses

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A man who was summoned by the Supreme Court to explain why he shouldn’t be found guilty for contempt of court after using abusive language against Judges in his application has shot back with more insults.

It comes a week after the panel of seven Supreme Court Justices led by the Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo summoned Ivan Samuel Ssebadduka to appear and explain why he abused them in his application in which he wanted the  Supreme Court to block virtual presidential candidate campaigns and suspend the requirement for presidential aspirants to collect signatures for their nominations.

The other justices are Stella Arach Amoko, Faith Mwondha, Paul Mugamba, Ezekiel Muhanguzi, Percy Night Tuhaise and Mike Chibita. According to the Justices, Ssebadduka used abusive language in his petition when he described them as a “council of fools.”

He also described Electoral Commission and its chairperson Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, Ministry of Health and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as ignorant and unintelligible on the basics of COVID-19. The Justices dismissed the petition on grounds that it lacked merit and the abusive language used by the applicant who insulted everyone involved in the petition with the exception of himself.

The Justices directed Ssebadduka to appear in the Supreme Court Wednesday morning to explain why they shouldn’t find him guilty for contempt of court. In his written response to the summons, Ssebadduka describes the Justices as incompetent, saying the accusations of contempt of court are baseless because the justices can’t challenge him legally.

“We didn’t offend you or you’re so-called Supreme Court because it is not a court in the first place. It is a Council of fools…” reads in part Ssebadduka’s response filed in the court registry on November 7th, 2020. Ssebadduka wonders whether the Justices were drunk to fix his petition for hearing or under influence of drugs since they didn’t have jurisdiction to hear his petition.

He says there is no way Supreme Court Justices should expect the public to trust them with honor when they dishonor themselves. “It is very unfortunate that we entrust you with the Judiciary because you don’t deserve to be Judges. A judge must have judgment but it is very unfortunate that you don’t have common sense, which is common”, reads his response in part.

Ssebadduka said that the Justices should think that he doesn’t know what they do in the dark and should they dare plan evil again, he will expose them.

The Supreme Court Registrar Harriet Ssali Nalukwago told the court that they couldn’t proceed because the Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo was away attending the funeral of his uncle while Justice Percy Night Tuhaise had also lost a relative.

Ssali asked Ssebadduka to return to court on November 18th, 2020 to defend himself.

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