VERBATIM: Why Mabirizi is Challenging High Court Judge Ssekaana’s Orders for Him to Pay Shs300m

Perennial litigant Hassan Male Mabirizi has explained his decision to appeal a ruling by Justice Musa Ssekaana and orders for him to pay a fine of Shs300m.

On January 27, Justice Ssekaana of the High Court convicted Mabirizi of contempt of court and ordered him to pay a fine. (Read story here).

Mabirizi has since challenged this ruling in an appeal in the High Court, and is considering another application in the East African Court of Justice (EACJ).

Here is why Mabirizi is dissatisfied with Justice Musa Ssekaana’s ruling:

Having been served with Applicant’s submissions just on Monday 24th January 2022 and preparing to file my submissions a week after, as per the judge’s own schedule, this decision was a great surprise and a clear reason why we must engage a higher gear in our fight for rule of law, mainly against hypocritical men and women who sit as Judges but disregard their Constitutional mandate.

When I knew that the Application was before Ssekaana, I, on 23^rd December 2021 applied for his recusal because of ‘the unmitigated animosity, frightening bellicosity and ceaseless skirmishing between Judge Ssekaana Musa and I, his black-listed litigant, the one the Judge declared persona non grata in his High Court Civil Division. This is the same litigant that Judge Ssekaana Musa publicly threatened with imprisonment on 17 December 2019 and he now has a fertile opportunity to do so under the guise of adjudicating Misc. Application 843 of 2021,”

Upon his refusal to recuse, I filed East African Court of Justice Reference No. 1 of 2022 and High Court Misc. Application No. 21 of 2022 for stay of proceedings and ruling. I had earlier filed Applications to strike out the ex parte proceedings which had occurred in my absence and to cross-examine the Attorney General’s witness. We have no rulings yet.

Therefore, no expectation of a final verdict was expected at this time but it is happening because of ‘Judge’ SSEKAANA’s unethical conduct.

Since my right to fair hearing has been derogated, I will not delve into his reasoning leading to a Ugx. 300,000,000 fine. I have filed an Application to set aside the Ruling and orders, I have filed a Notice of Appeal and I am taking steps to challenge it in East African Court of Justice.