Judiciary denies lawyer Ssemakadde judges’ minutes
Lawyer Isaac Ssemakadde
What you need to know:
- In her March 10 letter, Chief Registrar Sarah Langa Siu held that the minutes that lawyer Isaac Ssemakadde was seeking fell under the category of information that is not supposed to be released.
The Judiciary has declined to release the minutes of the annual judges’ meeting to a lawyer who had sought them.
In her March 10 letter, Chief Registrar Sarah Langa Siu held that the minutes that lawyer Isaac Ssemakadde was seeking fell under the category of information that is not supposed to be released.
“Without delving into the reasons for your request, I wish to point out that access to information in public bodies must be sought through a prescribed format,” Ms Langa wrote.
“I also wish to advise that the minutes sought fall within information that is not readily available and may be denied to any person requesting access in light of section 33(1) of the access to information act 6 of 2005,” she added.
In a February 7 letter to the Judiciary, Mr Ssemakadde had requested for a copy of the 23rd annual judges conference minutes claiming the judges had ganged up against him and resolved to condemn him alongside his colleague Hassan Mabirizi for allegedly cyber bullying them.
Minutes unavailable
Ms Langa in her response stated that the minutes Mr Ssemakadde was seeking were not yet available.
“Further still, there is no report of proceedings from the conference to avail to any person at this point before confirmation by members at the next annual judges sitting in 2023,” she stated.
The chief registrar added that no report of proceedings will be made available unless confirmed by the members who will attend the next judges meeting
In response to the new development, Mr Ssemakadde said: “They won’t hide the sought after information forever. That is utterly ridiculous. The confrontation has served its purpose. We have pushed them into a spot of bother.”
In February, Anti-Corruption Court judge Margaret Tibulya proposed to her colleagues that they pass a resolution against cyber harassment in regard to lawyers Mabirizi and Ssemakadde. Mabirizi is serving an 18-months jail term for contempt of court.
Justice Irene Mulyagonja of the Court of Appeal said she supported Justice Tibulya’s stand not to allow any cyber harassment from lawyers or any other court users.
“I think we resolved that we shall not tolerate any bullying, abuse of any kind from litigants, advocates or even among ourselves,” she said.
