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
Where is your anguish at this Tuesday's outcome of the 2nd bail application for the Katanga widow (inset)?
Why do magistrates & high court judges flout Superior Court orders exhorting them to be liberal💯 in granting bail when custody is not needed?🧵
Last month, I reached out to @KAAdvocates—defence lawyers for Ms Molly Katanga, 55—seeking permission to raise the alarm before their client's 2nd bail application suffered the same fate as the 1st one.
Upon further reflection, I decided to exercise self-restraint. Not anymore!
@UGIndependent quoted Judge Isaac Muwata thus: "The case is ready for hearing. I find that the application cannot be granted and is dismissed on grounds that the circumstances have not changed since the first bail application."
Family Division Cause 41/2023
Before Justice Keturah Katunguka
THE ISSUE—Whether to bury Justice Stella Arach-Amoko (RIP) in Nebbi or Adjumani?
#TeamNebbi—Adv Richard Adubango, Roger Mugabi, @PiusBusobozi & @SOkecho
#TeamAdjumani— @AFMpangaUG & @OrtusAdvocates
We are supposed to be starting in a few minutes, after a brief break granted to #TeamNebbi to complete an overnight filing assignment that happens to have spilled over.
Meanwhile before the break Adv @SPKinobe2018 of #TeamAdjumani informed court that “mediation had failed.”
We’ve established that in response to the “Arua middle ground” proposal, #TeamNebbi this morning offered the following “counterproposal” which was rejected by #TeamAdjumani.
At @mylegalbrain, we did more than put on an exhibit around Kampala’s gargantuan potholes & open sewers 3 years ago.
We SUED @KCCAUG & @GovUganda for this blatant violation of duty that has caused widespread devastation, including death and disability to hapless urban dwellers.
SIBLINGS shouldn’t let their tiffs & biffs spill over into the family business, if they’re lucky to have one.
Let me thread 🧵 you the tragic story of the Hanspal family that lost a fortune while fighting over the contract to construct @nssfug HQ, Workers’ House.
📸 @mudo_eve
The Hanspals used to be mega rich some forty years ago.
They had made their name, mostly in Dictator Daniel Arap Moi’s Kenya🇰🇪 , by delivering high-end construction assignments on time, for East Africa’s political & corporate elites of the day.
Davinder Hanspal became the face of that success.
He was the managing director of ALCON INTERNATIONAL LTD, a Kenyan superbrand in its heyday.
This guy was so good at his game that anyone who used the name ALCON could literally get away with murder anyway in East Africa.
In December 2022, under pressure to bury the most stinging scandal of her career, #FakeDPP#Akokolan#Abodo claims that “investigations were still going on” when the Constitutional Court halted the Basajja case on 8 May 2013, as reported on #ULII. NOT TRUE.ulii.org/ug/judgment/su…