By Kassim Sematimba
During this Thursday’s Radical New Bar online live session, Uganda Law Society (ULS) Vice President Anthony Asiimwe (who is also holding forte in absence of his boss Isaac Ssemakadde) shared on the difficulties he and others had endured trying to secure the freedom of Iganga-based lawyer (also NUP activist) Obed Nasser Mudiobole.
An outspoken ULS member, Nasser had gone missing and nobody knew where he was. After Asiimwe and others had been to Iganga trying to locate him in vain, the ULS went as far as filing an application of Habeas Corpus in the High Court trying to use the court to compel the state to produce him or account for his whereabouts.
ULS Treasurer Arthur Isiko says that the Judiciary must be celebrated for urgently attending to that ULS application which pressured the state into finally producing Mudiobole and having him arraigned in court where he has since been charged for participating in so-called People Power parade in Iganga.
Asiimwe says that there is a sharp contrast between the respect with which lawyers are treated and protected by the state in other countries and jurisdictions compared to what they are subjected to in Uganda.
Speaking at the weekly RNB Live session at ULS offices in Kololo this Thursday, Asiimwe reflected on the discussions he had earlier in the week with the leadership of the Southern Sudan Bar Association who paid him a visit at ULS offices in Kololo.
That he liked and admired the privileged status the world’s youngest nation accords its lawyers and advocates. That he was fascinated to learn from his guests that in Southern Sudan, all lawyers have immunity and can’t be arrested anyhow.
That he looked at the lawyers’ IDs which clearly give a standing notice to all law enforcement agents clearly notifying them the bearer of the same can never be arrested anyhow because of the immunity he or she has by virtue of being a licensed advocate.
Saying there is no way a senior advocate like Mudiobole could have been in abduction and illegal detention for 6 days if Uganda had accorded its advocates similar privilege and immunity status, Asiimwe called for reforms which could evolve into Ugandan lawyers having immunity of some sort by virtue of the very important role they play as protectors of rule of law and of the ordinary persons.
At the same Thursday session, which primarily had been dedicated to addressing legal services delivery by the Nakawa-based Judicial Training Institute (JTI regarding the role of the Ulii online library) and the new developments in the administration of dead persons’ estate, lawyers condemned the controversial passing of the UPDF amendment Act 2025 by the MPs this week and Isiko specifically termed it to be tantamount to staging a coup detat against the Judiciary which earlier this year ruled against army courts.
Isiko referred to Article 92 of the Constitution and made it clear that the new enactment was totally unconstitutional and must be nullified by the Constitutional Court. The lawyers castigated Parliament for refusing or failing to extend an effective invitation to Uganda Law Society to give its views yet it’s mandated to advise government on legal matters.
All in all, Parliament was castigated for not adequately consulting the public yet the UPDF amendment Bill was a very controversial piece of legislation especially those clauses that relate to the power of the court martial to try civilians who are not soldiers. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
