Thread by @IsaacSsemakadde

There’s dangerous delusion among some elites that Uganda is a REPUBLIC, with a people’s gov’t that pretends to adhere to the rule of law & democratic standards. Yet, in truth, it is a POSTCOLONY, where an imposed regime uses rule by law & tyrannical rules to govern the ‘natives’.

The word REPUBLIC comes from Latin ‘res publica’, which literally means ‘public thing’, ‘public matter’, or ‘public affair’ & was used to refer to the state as a whole.

In a REPUBLIC, the country is considered a ‘public matter’, not the private concern/property of the rulers.

In their wisdom, the framers of the 1995 Constitution entrusted or imposed on the CITIZEN, the task of TRANSFORMING Uganda from a POSTCOLONY into a REPUBLIC.

It was hoped that the JUDICIARY would accord the Office of the CITIZEN the necessary support & protection in this regard.

Unfortunately @JudiciaryUG is now full of Cadre Judges e.g.Phillip Odoki & Musa Ssekaana for whom the whole idea of TRANSFORMATION, as a citizen-led project, is just a foolish & dangerous delusion. To them, CITIZENS e.g.@MaleMabiriziHKK are ‘busybodies, cranks & mischief-makers’.

More executive-minded than the executive, Cadre Judges use a mix of obscurantism, sophistry, elitism, quietism & even malpractice 2 censor citizen-led TRANSFORMATION initiatives. They ignore our Constitution & rely on dubious foreign cases 2 uphold repugnant actions of the junta.

In @MaleMabiriziHKK v @CmaUganda Cadre Judge Phillip ‘Albatross’ Odoki sidestepped all Constitutional provisions cited as the basis of a citizen’s right to judicial review of administrative action & hid behind 4 pre-1995 UK decisions—confirming ANTI-TRANSFORMATION bias of his ilk

...Yet, in truth, it is a POSTCOLONY, where an imposed regime uses rule by law & crass tyranny* to govern the ‘natives’.

JUDICIAL QUIETISM & MALPRACTICE

Cadre Judge Phillip ‘Albatross’ Odoki also sidestepped binding Court of Appeal precedent (NDA v NAKACHWA) & hid under 3 per incuriam (wrongly decided) decisions of his ‘learned brothers’ at the High Court—confirming the ANTI-TRANSFORMATION bias.

TYRANNY OF ENGLISH

‘We associate with English (the language & its legal principles) blindly, forgetting that it was imposed on our people as a scheme of plunder, subjugation, exploitation, tyranny & oppression.’ I told @MakerereLaw students the other week dailyexpress.co.ug/2021/11/25/fog…

English affords elites (Black Skin, White Masks) license to insult our common intelligence. Only by using English can a ‘Judge’ survive lynching for the grave crimes of calling a CITIZEN ‘a busybody, crank & mischief-maker’ & punishing them with costs 4 daring to question #MTNIPO

‘All power & authority of @GovUganda & its organs eg @CmaUganda is derived from the people’ (Art 1.3)

‘Judicial power is derived from the people & exercised in the name of the people & their aspirations’ (Art 126.1)

So, the CITIZEN is OWNER/BOSS of the REPUBLIC—not a CRANK!

To recap, some lessons & implications
from #MTNIPO case:

1. Cadre Judges like Phillip ‘Albatross’ Odoki are quite simply DENSE. This is GOOD NEWS bcoz they aren’t inventing new obstacles to deprive us of justice. They’re recycling old ones, but we know how to get around them.

Ln 2: PLURALISM v ELITISM

The Constitution allows EVERY CITIZEN to participate in government & influence its actions in many ways, including judicial review. Cadre Judges, however, disagree. They opine that only a handful of political & economic ELITES shd have such influence.

LET’S RESIST the push by Cadre Judges to create a gov’t that is controlled by business, military & political elites—or, only the wealthy & well-educated. They’ll SECURE THEIR FUTURE at the expense of the needs of ordinary people & then Law & Order shall be maintained by FORCE!!

Ln 3: TECHNICALITIES v SUBSTANCE

Cadre Judge Phillip ‘Albatross’ Odoki acted CORRUPTLY when he abdicated duty to resolve the issue of substance in #MTNIPO case, yet he’d received the full argument on it for nearly 4 hours on 18 Nov.

So the market speculation continues...

Ln 4: THE MOTHER OF ALL APPEALS

The Appeal filed by @MaleMabiriziHKK in #MTNIPO case will confirm whether the negative morality of Cadre Judge Phillip ‘Albatross’ Odoki is an aberration, or the ‘new normal’ in @JudiciaryUG.

Are Ugandan judges remote-controlled by the elites?

LN 5: DON’T MESS WITH MABIRIZI!

Finally, hats off to the indefatigable @MaleMabiriziHKK for picking a career-defining cause & forcing the Uganda Bar-Bench Syndicate to grapple with the most important legal question of our lifetime — ‘WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A CITIZEN?’ #SoProud

@threader compile