TO HELL WITH YOUR ORDER! Ssemakadde Defies Court, Declares ULS Entebbe Party Still On

Lawyer Isaac Ssemakadde, Uganda Law Society (ULS) president has openly defied a High Court order stopping all Society meetings, insisting that tomorrow’s Radical Conference and Cocktail Party at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel, Entebbe, will go on as planned.

This comes barely a day after Justice Bernard Namanya issued an injunction halting the ULS Annual General Meeting (AGM) and any other related gatherings, ruling that the current ULS Council is unlawfully constituted and therefore has no legal authority to transact Society business.

However, in a poster widely circulated on social media on Friday, the ULS leadership declared that “There is no injunction against the most popular CLE event of the year.”

The poster, which bears the ULS logo and Ssemakadde’s photograph, confirms that the conference and cocktail party will take place this on Friday October 17, 2025, with Dr. Busingye Kabumba as the keynote speaker and Uganda Breweries as the sponsor.

The message is signed off with the bold statement, that  “The Radical New Bar President shall accept no apologies.”

Justice Namanya, in his Thursday ruling, restrained the ULS from convening any meeting (physical or virtual) until the main case is determined. The order followed a petition by Martha Nabijewa and Tonny Tumukunde, both members of ULS, who challenged the legality of the Council led by Ssemakadde.

They argued that the Council was improperly constituted since it excluded the Attorney General, Solicitor General, Secretary, and a regional representative, all of whom are required under Section 9 of the Uganda Law Society Act.

In the ruling, the judge declared that any meetings or resolutions passed by the Ssemakadde-led Council were null and void. He specifically issued a temporary injunction barring the Society from holding the AGM scheduled for 18 October 2025 and from enforcing any decisions taken at the disputed 17 September meeting.

Despite this clear order, the ULS leadership has chosen to press ahead with the Entebbe conference, describing it as a pre-AGM event, an announcement which has been interpreted by many within the legal community as a deliberate act of defiance.