By Spy Uganda
Human rights activist and executive director of the Legal Brains Trust, counsel Isaac Kimaze Ssemakadde, has made it clear that once elected he won’t leave any table unturned, especially Law Development Center that has left thousands of law graduates confused and stuck and Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka whom he accuses of sleeping on the job.
He made the remarks today at Makerere University Law School, during a presidential debate for candidates warming up for the top office of the Uganda Law Society (ULS). This debate attracted only two candidates; Ssemakadde and Keneth Kipaalu.
Ssemakadde responding to an outcry from about Ugx1600 law graduates who have sweated in and out to secure an admission at LDC, said this is the time to solve this crisis adding that this legal institution has turned into a killer of the legal profession.
”We started fighting this buoyance of LDC years back, we called you students to join us, you didn’t listen, now you have felt the pitch, I’m making the last call to all legal practitioners, support Ssemakadde for ULS presidency we shut this nonsense of LDC. Secondly, I have always told you that the judiciary is dead don’t expect justice from the current judiciary, go and tell the President HE Yoweri Kaguta Museveni that enough is enough, you are fed up with LDC. Anyway let me get into ULS office you will feel the music,” vowed Ssemakadde.
Asked about the biggest threat to Uganda’s freedom and justice, Ssemakadde loudly pinned Kiryowa Kiwanuka Nsumikambi Mugambe, the Attorney General of Uganda.
”I wrote an article about Kiryowa Kiwanuka, he is the wrong man for a wrong job. The day he gets out of that office we shall jubilate because all lawyers, that is the day they will be set free to practice what they know best.”
In his candidature, Ssemakadde fronts four key targets for his presidency including; decolonizing, demilitarizing, democratizing and transforming Uganda’s legal system digitally.
Ssemakadde who was Masaka district’s best candidate in 1996’s Primary Leaving Examination, went to St Mary’s Kisubi on a Masaka Municipal Council bursary, he was later admitted to Makerere University on a government scholarship and was president of the university’s Law Society.
He started out at Bowmans (A.F Mpanga Advocates), one of the most reputable law firms in Uganda before dedicating his full time to Legal Brains Trust, a project he co-founded while still at Law Development Centre.Â
Meanwhile, Kipaalu who served as a research officer at the Supreme Court of Uganda between March 2016 and May 2019 is currently an Associate Partner and Practice Head, Dispute Resolution at KTA Advocates.
He said that once elected, he would institute a smooth engagement with the government on matters affecting lawyers. He fronts good governance, unity, rule of law, as his top priorities for his leadership.
The Uganda Law Society is the Bar Association for Lawyers in Uganda. From negotiating with and lobbying the profession’s regulators, government and others, the Society also provides professional services, resources, support and benefits to its members and engages in activities designed to improve access to justice.
