By Sekaggya Seka Moses
High Court Judge Musa Sekaana has sentenced Uganda Law Society President Isaac Ssemakadde to two years in prison and fined him Shs300m for abusing him.
The ruling comes after Ssemakadde launched a series of scathing tweets accusing Judge Sekaana of bias, corruption, and having unholy alliances with government officials ¹.
The controversy stems from a December 2024 ruling where Judge Sekaana halted an extraordinary meeting of the Uganda Law Society, prompting Ssemakadde’s verbal attacks. Court records show that between December 11 and 22, 2024, Ssemakadde posted offensive tweets under the hashtag #SsekaanaMustGo, claiming the judge was compromised and working against the independence of the legal profession.
In his landmark ruling, Judge Sekaana emphasized that while criticism of judicial decisions is allowed, personal attacks against judges amount to contempt of court.
The judiciary has a role to protect itself against scandalous attacks that discredit its independence.
This ruling comes amid a heated disagreement between the Uganda Law Society, led by Ssemakadde, and the judiciary.
Last week, Ssemakadde refused to apologize for his attacks on the judiciary, prompting Judge Sekaana to take action.
Notably, this is not the first time Judge Sekaana has sentenced a prominent figure for contempt of court.
Exactly three years ago, he sentenced Hassan Male Mabirizi, a friend of Ssemakadde, to nine months in prison for similar offenses.
As Judge Sekaana stated, “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.”
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