Maureen Mapp, Associate Professor of Law
The President of the Uganda Law Society (ULS) Isaac Kimaze Semakadde is in trouble for denigrating Judge Jane Abodo – Uganda’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). In a speech on the 18th of November 2024, Semakadde called Abodo a “vagina from Karamoja”, “pumpkin”, “dimwit” and “dead wood”, claiming that her appointment was gendered, tribalist, and that she is an incompetent DPP.[1] He is now facing criminal charges of insulting the modesty of a woman by using vulgar and derogatory language. Semakadde applied to the High Court for a criminal revision of the charge and associated summons,[2] but has not otherwise appeared in court to answer to the charges. An international arrest warrant has now been requested (on the 19th of March 2025).[3]
Semakadde’s comments have been widely criticised as undermining public decency and the dignity of women; lacking in mutual respect, unethical, gender insensitive, tribalist and misogynist.[4] The Office of the DPP, Institute for African Women in Law and Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Karamoja region, where Abodo comes from, have demanded that Semakadde apologise to Judge Abodo.[5] Karamoja MPs also asked that he resign as President of the ULS. The Chief Justice Mr Alphonse Owiny- Dollo, has called on Semakadde to apologise, even offering to mediate under traditional justice processes; before castigating him over the use of vulgar language to criticise judges.[6]
At the time of writing, Semakadde has neither apologised nor resigned his position. His acts of defiance are deliberate- part of what Professor Sempebwa describes as the ‘new normal’ for Uganda where disruptors emerge to shake up systems.[7] To put this in context, Semakadde was elected on a promise to go “back to the roots for decolonisation” of Uganda’s legal system thorough four pillars: decolonisation of power and promoting African values; demilitarisation; democratisation; and digitisation.[8] The ULS Executive Order 2 of 2004 that he issued, campaigns for ‘radial surgery’ of the judiciary to ensure that judicial appointments are based on merit, experience, good ethical behaviour, and legal competence. The Order also promises transparent and accountable recruitment, and diverse, inclusive representation.[9]
Semakadde’s conceptualisation of radical surgery stems from being an “anticlockwise” thinker who likes to question society; to ‘bang the tables’ on a judicial system that he sees as being in a crisis.[10] Semakadde’s strategy, it seems, is to use radical rudeness via insulting and offensive language to challenge judicial power.
Radical rudeness as decolonisation strategy?
Radical rudeness is a political strategy for challenging state power through insulting and offensive language; shocking actions,[11] or non-verbal forms like removal of clothing-disrobing.[12] Originating in the colonial times, radical rudeness was used in Buganda in central Uganda to destabilise ruling alliances, move conflict into the public sphere, and precipitate change. Inflammatory words were intended to push clashes from private, mannerly negotiations among the elite, to the public sphere but without the associated social graces. Some opposed the use of insulting language, urging the radicals to channel their concerns through official forums.[13]
Similar tactics have been used by Semakadde’s client- Dr Stella Nyanzi, when in 2018 she penned an abusive poem insulting Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni. Nyanzi was tried for cyber harassment under section 25 of Uganda’s Computer Misuse Act, although her conviction was overturned on appeal for procedural irregularity.[14] Semakadde appears to follow Nyanzi’s strategy to challenge judicial power. His reference to a “vagina from Karamoja” echoes Nyanzi’s use of imagery of a female sexual organ as a poetic and metaphorical tool to express her disapproval of Museveni’s rule. We glean this from Semakadde’s co-authored blog post which justifies the use of vulgar (sexualised?) language to challenge political power.[15] Semakadde’s choice of words in attacking judges then should come as no surprise. In a previous tweet in 2022, Semakadde described Judge Musa Ssekaana (a male judge) as having a ‘small penis’.[16] Even his supporters like Dr Kabumba-Busingye, note that Semakadde’s radical approach can be brash, and gender insensitive; during the pre-election debate, he brushed aside concerns about sexual harassment of women.[17]
That said, the ethical implications of using radical rudeness as a strategy to decolonise judicial power has received limited engagement. Arguably, using abusive and humiliating language to hold judges to account could be viewed as robust criticism of the sort that was used in colonial Buganda to propel the conflict into the public sphere, and drive change. To the contrary, radical rudeness as a decolonisation strategy is arguably fallacious because it infringes the very African values that Semakadde promotes in his Decolonisation pillar. From a legal standpoint, radical rudeness also fails the test of dignity. Dignity then is an imperative cross-cutting principle that should not be breached.
Dignity based approach to moral dissent
Dignity is a core African value conceptualised as the capacity to show moral sympathy toward the lives and conditions of others and guaranteed under Ubuntu – or personhood.[18] It is part of one’s relationship to the community and includes identifying and showing solidarity with them.[19] Human rights also command a respect for dignity.[20] In an African context, Metz reminds us that dignity affords a person respectful treatment (in a human rights sense) without degrading the capacity for communal relationships. Dignity eschews morally wrong actions like unfriendly and abusive acts.[21] Additionally, Article 3(1) of the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003) defines the right of every woman to dignity that is inherent in a human being and recognition and protection of her human and legal rights. It aims to promote the free development of women’s personalities.[22]
Even, moral dissenters who seek radical change (like Semakadde) are entitled to be treated with respect. Their moral status allows them to retain some level of individuality and self-expression that must be respected.[23]
Notably, legal ethics recognises respect for the dignity of a person through non humiliating acts in a Fullerian sense, [24] including through self-application, where an individual is expected to moderate their behaviour in relation to official norms.[25]
The evidence points to Semakadde’s lack of moral sympathy for Abodo’s life and condition (positionality). He humiliates Abodo through unfriendly acts of verbal abuse, showing no solidarity towards a fellow lawyer. Using the metaphor of a female sexual organ as a descriptor is not only misogynist, but it also runs counter to the African (and human rights) value of dignity that Semakadde seeks to promote, and ‘good ethical behaviour’ that the ULS demands of the judiciary. Interestingly, in a speech following the Abodo saga, Semakadde criticised President Museveni for militarising judicial processes. His tone is critical but without acerbic language- even using words like ‘kindly take this advice.”[26] In effect, Semakadde can engage in ‘mannerly negotiations’ that follow legal etiquette, if he wants to.
Conclusion
So, where does this leave us?
We wait to see how the criminality of Semakadde’s radical rudeness strategy will be treated by the courts. Whichever the direction of travel, Semakadde’s approach to challenging judicial power needs a rethink.
It is too early to tell if Semakadde will heed the calls from some like Professor Sempebwa to desist from using vulgar language. Even so, radial surgery of the judiciary including attaining the aspirational goal of inspiring “good ethical behaviour” in the judiciary, ought to be implemented within an Ubuntu approach. This requires the use of a form of moral dissent that is civil in tone, while avoiding humiliating language that denigrates a person’s attributes (like gender, or ethnicity) or refers to their body organs as a descriptor. Such an approach would chime with a legal, human rights and African understanding of dignity. Equally, as a moral dissenter, Semakadde should be treated with dignity.
A dignity-based approach might engage the Bar in positive decolonisation dialogue with the judiciary on how to dismantle the vestiges of colonialism using African values. It might even begin to heal the rift between the judiciary and the Bar caused by Semakadde’s vulgar abuse.
[1] https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/court-asked-to-issue-arrest-warrant-for-ssemakadde-4906268.
[2] https://nilepost.co.ug/court/238788/ssemakadde-challenges-buganda-road-court-summons-in-high-court. The charges are brought via a private prosecution by lawyers Tonny Tumukunde and Joshua Byamazima.
[3] https://www.newvision.co.ug/category/news/court-directs-interpol-to-arrest-uls-chief-ss-NV_207241.
[4] https://www.newvision.co.ug/category/news/ssemakadde-faces-backlash-over-derogatory-rem-NV_199957 ; https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com/post/press-release-condemning-derogatory-language-against-the-ugandan-director-of-public-prosecutions.
[5]https://nilepost.co.ug/isaac-ssemakadde/227777; https://www.newvision.co.ug/category/news/karamoja-mps-demand-apology-over-ssemakaddes-NV_200076.
[6] https://nilepost.co.ug/news/231811/apologise-to-dpp-abodo-cj-dollo-tells-ssemakadde; https://www.newvision.co.ug/category/news/chief-justice-rebukes-ssemakadde-over-use-of-NV_204561.
[7] https://ugandaupdatenews.com/uls-president-semakadde-new-normal-in-new-world-order-prof-sempebwa/ .
[8] https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/ssemakadde-elected-new-uganda-law-society-president-4779302; https://newsday.co.ug/2024/09/28/how-lawyer-ssemakadde-won-law-society-presidency/ .
[9] https://uls.or.ug/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Executive-Order-RNB-No.-02-of-2024.pdf.
[10] https://www.independent.co.ug/isaac-semakadde-legal-rebel-anti-clockwise-thinker/; https://www.independent.co.ug/%F0%9F%94%B4-comment-ssemakaddes-rhetoric-suited-for-activism-not-law-society-by-ali-ssekatawa/ .
[11] Danson Sylvester Kahyana, ‘Rudeness/Incivility as Political Strategy: The Poetics and Politics of Stella Nyanzi’s Facebook Work’ in Bruce-Lockhart et.al (eds), Decolonising State and Society in Uganda: The Politics of Knowledge and Public Life, (2022 Boydell & Brewer).
[12] Busi Makoni,’ A pair of buttocks’ that everybody hates: Radical rudeness as a resistance strategy’ (2020) Gender & Language,15/4, 549-558.
[13] Carol Summers, ‘Radical Rudeness: Ugandan Social Critiques in the 1940s’ (2006) Journal of Social History, 39/3, 741-770.
[14] Stella Nyanzi v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 79 of 2019). In 2023, Section 25 of the Computer Misuse Act was declared unconstitutional by Uganda’s Constitutional Court in Karamagi & Anor v Attorney General (Constitutional Petition No. 5 of 2016).
[15] https://africasacountry.com/2019/06/in-uganda-posting-a-poem-about-museveni-gets-you-jailed-for-misusing-a-computer-why-everyone-should-care.
[16]https://x.com/musika_official/status/1487087646396538889;https://www.independent.co.ug/ssemakadde-petitions-court-to-quash-offensive-communication-charges/.Judge Ssekaana has since sentenced Semakadde to two years imprisonment for contempt of court in other comments he made on Ssekaana. There is a pending Civil constitutional challenge to the Ssekaana decision.
[17] https://observer.ug/index.php/viewpoint/82527-why-uganda-law-society-needs-isaac-ssemakadde-more-than-he-needs-it.
[18] Motsamai Molefe, African Personhood and Applied Ethics (Makhanda: NISC (Pty) Ltd, 2020).
[19] Thaddeus Metz,’ A Relational Theory of Dignity and Human Rights: An Alternative to Autonomy’ (2024) The Monist 107/3, 211–224; Thaddeus Metz, ‘Ubuntu as a Moral Theory and Human Rights in South Africa’ (2011) African Human Rights Law Journal 11/2, 532-559.
[20] Jack Donnelley ‘Normative Versus Taxonomic Humanity: Varieties of Human Dignity in the Western Tradition’ (2015) Journal of Human Rights, 14/1,1-22.
[21] Thaddeus Metz, ‘African values and human rights as two sides of the same coin: A reply to Oyowe’, (2014) AHRLJ 14/2, 306-321; Thaddeus Metz, ‘African Conceptions of Human Dignity: Vitality and Community as the Ground of Human Rights’, (2012) Human Rights Review, 13, 19–37.
[22] Charlene Kreuser, ‘Article 3 Right to Dignity’ in A. Dudman et.al., (eds) The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the rights of women in Africa: a commentary (2023 Pretoria University Law Press).
[23] Nancy S. Jecker, African Ethics, Respect for Persons, and Moral Dissent, (2022) Theoria, 88, 666–678 citing D. Maskaka, 2018, Theoria 65(4), 1–14.
[24] David Luban, Legal Ethics and Human Dignity (2007 Cambridge University Press).
[25] Jeremey Waldron, ‘How law protects dignity’ (2012) Cambridge Law Journal, 17/1, 200-222.
[26] https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/uls-ssemakadde-accuses-museveni-of-contempt-of-court-4855252.