ULS President Ssemakadde Vows Legal Action Against Kenya Over Arrest of 36 FDC Members

The President of the Uganda Law Society (ULS), Isaac Ssemakadde, has pledged to give an upper hand to a group of lawyers headed by the interim PFF party president, Erias Lukwago, who is in charge of the court case of the 36 members that were arrested in Kenya after they were suspected of conducting subversive activities.

According to Ssemakadde, the Kenyan state must be sued for failure to withhold the freedom of assembly that could allow the 36 FDC members to conduct their leadership retreat in Kenya, stating that Kenya should be a safe ground for Uganda asylum seekers.

“I have requested the lawyers in charge of this 36 FDC member case to do whatever they can to sue the Kenyan state to start respecting the rights of the Ugandan asylum seekers because we doubt whether the Kenyan government respects the international laws and its laws concerning the asylum seekers from Uganda,” he said.

“I request you to be diverted not by the case that the Ugandan government imposed on the 36 FDC members. That case has no foundation, and it’s not all that imperative because it’s just time-wasting. He should initiate our case, which will paint a good picture to fellow Ugandans and the international community,” he added.

Ssemakadde made the remarks while presiding over the grand welcome of the 36 FDC members from prison on Monday, November 18, 2024, at PFF headquarters on Katonga Road plot number 6, in Uganda’s Capital, Kampala.

Lukwago said that his team of lawyers is ready to work with the Uganda Law Society in the fight for the restoration of constitutionalism and the rule of law in Uganda, adding that his team will not give up on suing Kenya to restore the rule of law.

“We are working with the lawyers in Kenya, the International Commission for Jurists (ICJ), the Pan-Africa Law Society Union, and other parties in this move of restoring constitutionalism and the rule of law,” he said.

Salam Musumba, the Deputy National Chairman for FDC Katonga, transiting to PFF, said that they will still demand the Kenyan High Commission give a vivid reason for the arrest and mistreatment of the 36 FDC members.

According to Dr. Kiiza Besigye, the FDC politicians had just concluded a meeting at the Ukweli Pastoral Center on the outskirts of Kisumu City on July 23, 2024, when a group of armed people (believed to be Ugandan and Kenyan security personnel) broke into their rooms, allegedly assaulted, arrested, and drove them back to Uganda in the middle of the night.