Ono Bwino can exclusively report that the inner team of the exiled Uganda Law Society president Senior Counsel Isaac Ssemakadde is sharply divided over plans for him to seek the President’s intervention to save their man from serving two years in prison as directed by controversial Court of Appeal judge Musa Ssekaana.
Sources close to him told this website that immediately after Justice Joyce Kavuma the head of the Civil Division of the High Court dismissed Ssemakadde’s application for stay of Justice Ssekaana’s decisions pending appeal, a section of the team lost hope.
Through their contacts in Deep State and in State House, Ssemakadde’s team was advised to tell him to apply for pardon.
They were advised that this should be done through the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy which recommends to the president convicts to be pardoned.
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“Concerning this option of engaging the President, we want the president to direct the Attorney General to process Ssemakadde’s pardon instead of the Attorney General who is the chairperson of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy advising him. This will help stop the current Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka from abusing his office by using it to revenge on Ssemakadde,” one of Ssemakadde’s henchman told this website
He added that as a team, once they secure an appointment with the President, which they expect during the Christmas period, Ssemakadde’s team is set to send a team of serious veteran lawyers led by counsel Elly Karuhanga to bargain on their side.
This website understands that even though Ssemakadde’s team has not yet engaged Kiwanuka directly. They have however engaged other top leaders in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs who advised Ssemakadde to first withdraw all the appeals he filed in the Court of Appeal challenging his conviction and sentence on the contempt of court charges.
However, radicals on the team insist that Ssemakadde should use legal avenues to secure his freedom because once he kneels before Museveni, the gesture will used by his enemies who will set unrealistic conditions including apologising to Ssekaana, Kiwanuka and the newly appointed Principal Judge Jane Frances Abodo whom he annoyed when he used bad language against them.
This website has exclusively learnt that a number of judges especially at the two upper appeals courts are not happy with Ssemakadde the president of all lawyers in the country leading them while in exile and one of them through their WhatsApp group pleaded with the judiciary leadership to pardon him.
So as a relationship between lawyers and judges are amended because he is remaining with only few months for his term in office to expire
Once Ssemakadde is forgiven, it is going to help the Chief Justice Owiny Dollo to retire as a peaceful man because he will have solved the problem of fights between judges and lawyers’ which has been the hallmark of his tenure.
However, Dollo still insists that Ssemakadde has to first apologise to the people he angered.
Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Norbert Mao recently proposed that retired Deputy Chief Justice Richard Butera should lead the mediation to have Ssemakadde forgiven since all parties including Kiwanuka are ready for the talks after denying having a hand in Ssemakadde’s exile.
