The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Judicial Officers Association-UJOA has condemned what they term as unbecoming utterances by Isaac Semakadde and Hassan Male Mabirizi-Kiwanuka, both city lawyers.
“UJOA has learnt of the unbecoming utterances attributed to Mr. Isaac Semakadde, an advocate through his Twitter handle @IsaacSemakadde directed towards some judicial officers. The same arose out is a decision that found Mr. Male Mabirizi in contempt of court and recommended sanctions as against him for such conduct,” reads the February 1, 2022 statement issued by the Association.
Adding that,” Mr. Male made similar insults with his Twitter handle @MalemabiriziHKK on various dates. The Uganda Judicial Officers Association condemns these statements.”
The statement signed by the Association president Tadeo Asiimwe, notes that the utterances came from lawyers who are aware of the established mechanisms for addressing dissatisfaction with court decisions.
“We urge the Uganda Law Society and the Law Council to take necessary steps to tame this irreverent behaviour, which severely impacts on the judicial officers in the performance of their official duties,” Asiimwe’s letter concluded.
In his response, Mabirizi described the letter as an ‘unaddressed document’ and a cowardly influence of Civil Division High Court Judge, Ssekaana Musa, who is facing multiple disciplinary actions in the Judicial Service Commission.
“You ought not to have allowed your Association to be misused. Let Judge Ssekaana Musa carry his own cross till when he is removed from office,” Mabirizi said in his response to Asiimwe’s letter.
He also denied the allegation levelled against him describing it as defamatory, adding that it imputes criminal sanctions and lowers his self-esteem as the rule of law champion and the rule of law icon not only in Uganda but also the entire Great Lakes region.
He was also surprised that UJOA was able to make such findings without giving him a fair hearing, which demonstrates the rot and hypocrisy in the judicial system. “The purpose of this communication, therefore, is to require you to retract the defamatory statement and apologise to me and arrange to pay me general, aggravated and exemplary damages of Shillings 850 million within three days.
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