Prime
Mud does not stick to a rock: A rebel’s rebuttal
Mr Isaac Ssemakadde
What you need to know:
- The truth is, my tenure as MLS president (2005-2006) was marked by excellence. In collaboration with the Human Rights and Peace Centre then led by Dr Joe Oloka-Onyango, I secured a four-year grant worth $63,577.21 from the Norwegian aid agency to promote continued involvement of law students in governance and civil society issues.
Kampala, Uganda – September 24: As our Back on Track campaign for the soul and presidency of Uganda Law Society (ULS) reaches its climax, baseless allegations have surfaced, attempting to tarnish my reputation.
These vague accusations rely on cowardly insinuations rather than facts. Whereas I cannot respond to all my detractors due to time pressure, my campaign advisers insist that I should address a cynical hit piece ‘Battle for ULS presidency heats up as MUK, LDC ghosts return to haunt Ssemakadde’ in which the Red Pepper Intelligence Unit, The Ankole Times and Hannington Mbabazi of The Capital Times failed to specify the alleged administrative challenges during my tenure as president of Makerere Law Society (MLS), instead hiding behind ambiguous phrases.
They also repeated a malicious lie once peddled by the Law Development Centre (LDC). None of the bloggers sought my comment prior to posting.
The truth is, my tenure as MLS president (2005-2006) was marked by excellence. In collaboration with the Human Rights and Peace Centre then led by Dr Joe Oloka-Onyango, I secured a four-year grant worth $63,577.21 from the Norwegian aid agency to promote continued involvement of law students in governance and civil society issues.
I successfully represented MLS at various national and international conferences; appointed the quintessential scholar of our age, now Dr Timothy Kyepa, who rescued the then defunct Makerere Law Journal; and fostered high-impact partnerships with prestigious organisations such as the Nigerian High Commission, the Danish Association for International Co-operation, ActionAid International Uganda (then led by the charismatic Ms Amanda Serumaga), and of course Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), the German political foundation which was the subject of the bloggers’ wild speculation.DM crosshead: LDC allegations.
The regurgitation of debunked allegations made against me by the Law Development Centre (LDC) more than 10 years ago is a desperate smokescreen: a thinly veiled attempt to discredit me and shut the door on my spirited advocacy against that moribund institution and its gatekeepers inside the NRM government.
The notion that I sat the inaugural LDC bar course pre-entry exams for an applicant without being recognised is laughable, especially considering my established reputation even at that time as a former MLS president, social critic, advocate of the High Court of Uganda and public interest litigant.
The genesis of these allegations lies in a fictitious whistleblower report, which was crafted sometime in 2011/2012 by those who constantly seek to maintain their grip on power through underhand methods like damaging the careers of their youthful rivals.
In a September 4 letter, Law Council secretary Margret Nabakooza informed the chairperson of the ULS elections committee that, “Mr Isaac Kimaze Ssemakadde has not been convicted of an offence by the Law Council”. She also clarified that the Law Council is “not aware of any complaint against me” .
