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14 March 2007.
Kampala High Court.
Over 700 lawyers, dressed in white shirts and black suits, gathered in silence.
They had been on strike for three days.
Now they were here to perform an ancient ritual of purification.
At the front, a lawyer held aloft a bloodโstained shirt, evidence of what the state had done in this very building two weeks earlier.
The Cleansing of the Court - 2007
The procession, led by Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki and Uganda Law Society President Oscar John Kihika, circled the court building in a symbolic cleansing ceremony.
Kihika described it as an "ageโold African ritual designed to purify the court."
The bloodied shirt and tie belonged to Kiyemba Mutale, a lawyer who had been beaten unconscious during a government raid on the High Court on 1 March.
That day, armed security forces from the "Black Mamba" antiโterrorism unit had stormed the criminal registry to reโarrest nine treason suspects who had just been granted bail after 15 months in detention.
During the hoursโlong standoff, Mutale was attacked.
The suspects were beaten, bundled into a police vehicle, and taken away.
The raid was a grim echo of November 2005, when the same unit had laid siege to the High Court to prevent the release of the same men during Kizza Besigye's presidential campaign.
The 2007 attack triggered an unprecedented response.
On 5 March, Uganda's judges went on a weekโlong strike to protest the assault on judicial independence.
On 12 March, the Uganda Law Society began its own threeโday sitโdown strike, demanding an apology and concrete reforms.
Five ULS members who held highโlevel government positions were suspended.
Justice James Ogoola captured the gravity:
"The point had to be made. They will not survive unless the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and all other fundamental principles that hold the nation together are back to form."
President Museveni eventually expressed regret for the incident and promised a "legal and transparent modus operandi" for future arrests.
The judges and lawyers returned to work.
But the ceremony on 14 March was more than a conclusion, it was a declaration.
Mutale's bloodied shirt, held high before the committee tasked with investigating the raid, was not just evidence.
It was a symbol that the judiciary would not be cowed.
The cleansing was not merely ritual.
It was a line drawn in the dust of a courtroom, a reminder that even in the face of armed men, the law could still speak.
#ughistory #ULS @ug_lawsociety@Lawpointuganda@JudiciaryUG
๐จ๐ดโซ๏ธ BREAKING: Rรบben Amorim to AC Milan as new head coach, HERE WE GO! ๐ต๐น
Verbal agreement done on deal valid until June 2028 plus option until June 2029.
Amorim has accepted all conditions and will sign this week as new Milan manager. ๐ซฑ๐ปโ๐ซฒ๐ผ
@SsemuwembaS@samanthmwesigye@law3lawrence You set the foundation ๐๐ฝ But I have a question here; will Samantha now graduate or the university will just pay 100m ?
There is no 28billion to pay intern doctors in the budget Museveni is presenting today, no 8billion for UNEB to train teachers on how to mark new syllabus, no 3.5billion to complete new syllabus but there is 211billion for welfare and entertainment for big people, 536 billion for special meals and drinks for big people, 196 billion for big people to donate, 17 billion for firewood, gas and charcoal and 2.6 trillion for classified expenditure!
โYou cannot say that you have Shs158 billion to purchase cars for MPs and then claim that you do not have Shs 28 billion to pay medical internsโ allowances, with the excuse that it would crush the economy. By the way, doctors are rarely in the hospitals. It is the medical interns who are everywhere doing the donkey work,โ Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu
READ:๐https://t.co/D8WKodSg45
#MonitorUpdates
This is a matter of public interest. @PoliceUg should retrieve CCTV footage showing the circumstances of Sydneyโs death. And a public trial like that of Okello be held to give a message that: enough is enough, no more mob justice
@rolandkid_ Ntare? First know what it takes to get there regardless of the financial implication.
My guy, Iโd advise that you engage in discussions about Nyabo academy and the likes of Chaapa but not the DEN!
Kind regards bro ๐
โIt is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.โ
Thatโs why we advocate for rule of law not mob justice!!!
The issues you avoid when things are going well will be the issues that take you out when adversity hits. And adversity will hit.
Have the hard conversations now. Address the hard issues now.
Do the work today to build a culture that can handle adversity tomorrow.