ISAAC SSEMAKADDE: Who Is Not in Exile?

Abridged comments by Isaac Ssemakadde SC, the President, Uganda Law Society (ULS), at the Second Sam Kalega Njuba Memorial Lecture, and conclusion of the Annual Rule of Law Week under the theme, “Rule of Law under the Shadow of Political Persecution”. 24th September 2026.

As we convene for the 2nd Sam Kalega Njuba Memorial Lecture, it is not lost on me that I am once again addressing you from exile. I had hoped for different circumstances, but here we are.

It is no coincidence that our keynote speaker Hon. Ssemujju-Nganda, chief guest Hon. Justice Esther Kisaakye, distinguished guest Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi, the President of the Uganda Law Society and Head of the Bar, and others who have challenged injustice are all speaking to you from exile.

These are my reflections on exile from reading Njuba’s memoir, The Betrayal, in which exile features prominently, and from listening to today’s heartfelt speeches.

It is about not knowing will happen next to your loved ones. It is about being powerless to help them when something bad does happen to them.

Who (t)here in Uganda does not live like this?

You have little access to healthcare. Even if you have the money for private care, the collapse of government duty to maintain standards means that you don’t know what you are getting.

It’s NOT simply that you have no access to Justice; it’s that the Justice system has collapsed.

Hon. Asuman Kiyingi has candidly exposed what drove some of us into exile.

This is how ULS and I ended up in exile, following my conviction in absentia on Valentine’s Day last year and cynical imprisonment for 2 years for the non-existent offence of “insulting judges”.

Home is supposed to be a place of comfort and security. Of happiness.

To live in your own country but without rights, without equal protection before the law, and without security of livelihood, is to not be living at all.

In exile, one soon painfully realizes that an African is more likely to be treated with justice in Europe or America than in one’s own country.

“Exile”, is any site of struggle. Because any serious struggle will disrupt your life, impede your professional development, endanger your loved ones, threaten your mental health, and take away your personal freedom.

A constitutional guarantee is empty where its enjoyment depends on the individual’s willingness to risk imprisonment. Government, through the Judiciary, has imposed on the leadership and proponents of an independent Bar a very stark choice: prison or exile. But this is not new.

Sam Njuba SC, “a cool and diplomatic” president of the Uganda bar, as recalled by Hon Miria Matembe, spent a period of his life in exile. He had previously been imprisoned, and persecuted for his political views. From exile, he was able to work with other exiles as part of the effort to get rid of the government what had driven him there. Then, as now, life was hard for those who stayed as well as those who left.

In his work, Sam Njuba, a lawyer, was obliged to break the law. This may have been the worst indignity.

So, let us be very clear: I am not in exile as an individual. It is the Bar in exile; it is Justice in exile and it is the Constitution in exile. As long as these things are threatened, by political, military or judicial officers of this country, then there is no “home”.

What there is, is a struggle to restore Justice and constitutionalism, wherever we are found.

What does this moment mean for lawyers, for activists, for all Ugandans concerned with justice?

Let me restrict my concluding remarks to lawyers.

Lawyers must lead the way in combating an insidious constitutional crisis. An extremist in government has vowed to kill the voice of reason, and the demands for orderly government. If we heed those colleagues urging traditional neutrality and settle into a “play it safe” mode, we will simply cement the Bar’s captivity by the extremist and his enablers.

It is no coincidence that civically active Ugandans who are not in exile are either in prison, or missing. The 15th of June means they will now be joined by lawyers, including your leadership.

Let the members of the Bar, at all levels, stop looking for comfort from where it will never come.

This country is yours. Its future will be shaped with or without your input, including from exile. So, like Sam Njuba and those of us presently in exile, you need to decide what kind of country you want live in your old age, and for your descendants. The time to make a stand is now.

Embrace the four pillars of RNB Vision 2060 – Decolonization, Demilitarization, Democratization and Digital Transformation, notwithstanding exile. Take up this work and become fully part of it. The struggle is wherever you may find yourself. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).

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