Ugandan lawyers protest Court of Appeal’s ‘procedural sabotage’ that imperils the rule of law

Ugandan lawyers have turned up in large numbers this morning at the Court of Appeal to protest recent actions by the Registrar and demand for scheduled appeals to be heard, as tensions between Uganda’s Bar and judiciary continue.

On 3 July, in a move the East Africa Law Society has called “unlawful”, and “a systemic violation of Uganda’s domestic and international commitments”, Court of Appeal Registrar HW Rukundo Allen Owembabazi removed four pivotal Uganda Law Society (ULS) appeals from the cause list scheduled for today, 10 July 2025. 

The appeals are integral to ULS’s mandate under the country’s Constitution, notes the East Africa Law Society. They address critical issues including nomination of Judicial Service Commission representatives, frustration of member-requisitioned and council-ordered meetings, alleged judicial harassment of ULS President Isaac Ssemakadde, and the deepening rift in Bar-Bench relations in Uganda. 

Speaking to NTV Uganda at this morning’s protest, Vice President Anthony Asiimwe said ULS had been excited to have their appeals scheduled for today, 10 June, as they were going to finally get justice, knowing their appeals were based on principle.

Unfortunately, Registrar Owembabaz removed the cases last week.

Assimwe noted this morning that the ULS then reported the Registrar’s unlawful actions to the head of the Court of Appeal, Deputy Chief Justice Flavia Zeija, including citations of law this court itself had previously upheld in several cases. 

“He responded with a very tough letter, saying ‘I’m the one who directed the matter’,” said Assimwe, noting the Deputy Chief Justice contradicted the Registrar’s reported reasoning, and stated he’d removed the ULS appeals because the cases were new and there were many other cases waiting before the court that had taken years. 

Provocatively, Zeija implied ULS must have lobbied to have their appeals heard promptly (a baseless claim, said Assimwe), promised that in future no cause-list would be issued without his personal approval, and that as long as he “still [had] the breath to head the Court of Appeal” no new appeals would be listed until all 623 matters going for ten years or more in the court system are first disposed of. 

The implication being that despite the urgency and constitutional importance of the ULS appeals, the Deputy Chief Justice would continue to ignore them. 

Tensions have been escalating between Uganda’s lawyers and judiciary in recent times. Last year, following numerous complaints from litigants and lawyers relating to bias, poor temperament, and procedural unfairness, a faction of the ULS led by Isaac Ssemakadde (who’d become President of the ULS in September 2024) called for a boycott of Justice Musa Ssekaana, the Head of the High Court’s civil division.

After the ULS requested a meeting in January to ease tensions with the judiciary, Chief Justice Alfonse Chigamoy Owiny-Dollo instead used the occasion of the opening of the New Law Year in February to rebuke the Law Society. That same month, Justice Musa Ssekaana ordered the arrest and imprisonment of ULS President Isaac Ssemakadde for two years after citing him for what the judge claimed was contempt of court in social media posts. A decision the ULS condemned, calling it “one-sided, irregular, and manifestly void of any legal effect”. 

ULS Vice President Asiime described Ssekaana’s actions as a desperate attempt to silence the society’s advocacy for justice and accountability. “If this blunt instrument of a misguided judicial officer was aimed at silencing our president’s voice and undermining our collective efforts, it has failed. We will not be intimidated.”

Last month, ULS President Ssemakadde, still in self-imposed exile following his alleged targeting by the judiciary, turned down a position on the Law Reform Committee, accusing the Chief Justice of enabling judicial abuse, silencing dissent, and overseeing a justice system plagued by corruption and impunity. 

He noted that despite the Court of Appeal itself unanimously finding in May that Justice Musa Ssekaana had breached constitutional standards (in his handling of another case), that there had been no apology, and no overturning of the unlawful contempt citation against him. 

Following the Registrar’s recent actions, the ULS has - along with today’s protest - also decided to boycott the Chief Justice’s Thanksgiving celebrations on 12 July. 

The East Africa Law Society (EALS), which unites over 45,000 legal professionals across the East African Community, has come out in strong support of ULS in its ongoing conflict with the Ugandan judiciary. It says the latest actions in removing the four appeals before the Court of Appeal undermine ULS’s constitutional mandate, violate Uganda’s international and regional obligations, and threaten judicial independence, imperiling the rule of law and democratic governance.

“EALS demands the immediate restoration of these appeals, strict compliance with judicial processes, and accountability for this egregious interference with the legal profession,” it says. “Failure to comply will compel EALS to pursue regional and international remedies, including petitions to the East African Court of Justice, communications to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and mobilisation for strategic litigation.”