Published on 05/12/2024
The disqualification of Pheona Wall from the Uganda Law Society nominee race to the Judicial Service Commission unearths a legacy of deceit, manipulation, and doctrinal ignorance.
The news of your disqualification from the Uganda Law Society (ULS) nominee race to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is nothing short of justice-your candidacy was pure hot air, a complete sham.
Nonetheless, I owe younger lawyers and unsuspecting members of the public an unreserved rebuttal, exposing falsehoods and doctrinal infidelity in your various responses to my open letter of December 1, 2024.
First of all, you are an incorrigible liar.
In the 2016-2018 ULS Council, as Honorary Secretary, you orchestrated the appointment of Ruth Sebatindira and Norah Matovu Winyi-the recalled masqueraders-violating rule 13 of our election regulations.
Only Shamim Amolo, Council member from Northern Uganda, had the spine to publicly challenge your democracy-crushing manoeuvre.
As Vice President in the 2018-2020 ULS Council, under the empty-headed Simon Peter Kinobe, you were complicit in maintaining the masqueraders at the JSC. Your attempts to distance yourself from these illegitimate appointments before you became President (2018-2020) are nothing but blatant lies.
Secondly, you are a fool, blind to fundamental judicial precedents such as Dhikusooka v Attorney General, Constitutional Petition 10 of 2009, which held that “a reappointment is a fresh appointment and must follow all the requirements of the original appointment,” including, in the present case, a fresh election by the ULS of its nominees to the JSC.
The “Judicial Service Commission Act” exists only in your delusional imagination. The Constitutional Court in Gerald Karuhanga v Attorney General, Constitutional Petition 39 of 2013, decimated your notion of presidential omnipotence.
The President of the Republic of Uganda cannot simply hijack powers belonging to other constitutional bodies as regards the JSC appointments envisaged under Article 146(2) of the Constitution. But to a fool like you, any presidential explanation suffices.
Don’t speak for the pugnacious Mr. Steven Kalali-the boy wonder went to court and got his own results, having found you and your successor Bernard “Bernie Boy” Oundo certified fools.
Your sexual harassment “policy” is illusory (kigumaaza). Section 7 of Employment Act 2006 and the Employment (Sexual Harassment) Regulations 2012 already existed-so you innovated nothing. Tell us: Which sexual predators did you actually catch? How many victims truly found refuge in your performative leadership?
Your reputation among female lawyers is crystal clear: you’re just another pick-me enabler of toxic masculinity. Where were you when Advocate Samantha Mwesigye, the November 18th victims, and Supreme Court Justice Esther Kisaakye suffered public harassment and harm?
Your claim of “promoting inclusivity” is laughable. ULS committees decayed into a bourgeois farce under your watch. If you created such a vibrant bar, why did I get into power through a protest vote?
During the pandemic, you abandoned lawyers, meekly accepting 30 movement passes while lawyers were deemed “non-essential” under the COVID Regulations which you failed to challenge. Your unsubstantiated claim of reducing Law Council case backlog is another self-congratulatory lie.
In short, you’re an exploitation enabler who cannot protect women. Your sexual harassment policy launch solved nothing. When critiqued, you hide behind collective responsibility, blaming everyone from the ULS membership to the pandemic itself.
Stop the PR charade. Stop hiding behind ChatGPT-generated excuses. Be F.A.T. – Fully Accountable Today.
Uncompromisingly,
Isaac K. Ssemakadde
President, Uganda Law Society
Mombasa, December 5, 2024.
