By Simon Semuwemba
To some Isaac Ssemakadde seems a misfit, a radical and any other bias you could have heard,but he is a good human worth of salt.
Unlike many of us that chase the bag each day, his blood streams flow with unspeakable justice for all. He is a true replica of service above self. And in the moments when the independence of the judiciary is at stake, when advocates are being arrested like chicken thieves for enforcing their clients instructions, when masses are loosing confidence in seeking redress in the courts of our land, thus a dent on our earning, Isaac Ssemakadde is the man to restore sanity and say no to the bringing down of our sacred temple.
Notably, if humanity, a pure and divine heart was a name, it would be Isaac Ssemakadde. Around 2020 at the peak of COVID,as a number of firms were restructuring,young lawyers salaries deducted and some sent off to the wilderness. Ssemakadde initiated a fundraising to purchase food and a number of young lawyers were beneficiaries.His humane spirit spreads so wide, that prior to set up of the ULS Benevolent Fund, Isaac Ssemakadde was at the fore front of fundraising for some of his peers who had faced the trials of life in health.
One of them being the Late Ivan Mugabi Bakesiga,who they successfully facilitated for his cancer treatment in India, but unfortunately didn’t make it despite their noble efforts.
Isaac Ssemakadde’s service above self goes beyond his dreadlocks.
Around 2016, when we were maliciously sent out of UCU Law School for fighting for some downtrodden students whose dreams were cut short due to the exorbitant tuition increases each semester and several dropping out of school. We reached out to a number of prominent lawyers to have us have a pie of access to justice,that which we had read and mastered in the walls of Law School, but astonishingly, many unwelcomed us and left us for the deep pit. One prominent one told us, “I cannot face off an Anglican Church founded university, for I would be facing off with the State.”Alas, with all hope lost, we reached out to the door step of Isaac Ssemakadde on recommendation by some one.Good enough, he had earlier read our plight in one of the newspaper dailies. Like the dare devil he is,whilst conducting the client interview. Ssemakadde looked in our eyes and saw dreams of two young men shattered both in reality and shadow. To him the pay cheque wasn’t the priority,but rather the shattered dreams of young lawyers coming back to life was his resolve. Alas, Isaac Ssemakadde, put on his robes, often at times researching for our case and those of others, the noble profession had told, “No thank you, we wouldn’t wish to face off with the powers that be in the land”,often at times till 2am in the night with his ice cold coke by his side and genuinely walking by our side to see that justice is not only done but seen to be done.With his genius brain,IK as commonly known,got us a precedent of a private university being subjected to judicial review and our expulsion declared unfair,arbitrary,unjust,unchristian and ultra vires and back to law school to chase our dreams and just like the proverbial Ezekiel in the bible, Isaac Ssemakadde turned our dry bones to life and here we are advocates of the High court and all subordinate courts, rendering to others what mercy gave us and using our intellect and hands just like Ben Carson’s Gifted hands to see that others have access to justice too.Therefore, to the gallant men and women of the noble profession,just as we often consider substance over form,and with the dire times of the independence of the judiciary at stake, our sacred temple is all we have and any loss of confidence in it by the masses is a loss of our livelihood and earning. Isaac Ssemakadde is worth to take on the mantle of saving our sacred temple from being brought down.Never again should ULS be a career building and fame chasing vessel for some but rather a society with leadership befitting of a name, protecting the advocates profession,ensuring observance of rule of law and a society worth of respect in the land. Make a bold move, envision the future. Vote Isaac Ssemakadde for ULS Presidency 2024 this September.
The writer is Lawyer/Advocate.
