Grapevine

Isaac Ssemakadde: Wild-haired, wild-eyed and wildly dressed rebel with a cause

If you were to set a current affairs quiz today asking which prominent Ugandan personality was born on September 15, the question would be struck down on appeal, for it has two correct answers: President of the Republic Yoweri Museveni and president of the Law Society Isaac Ssemakadde.

The latter, who is exactly half the former’s age, is a human rights lawyer born in 1984, the year George Orwell’s dystopian state completed taking full control of the citizens’ body and mind, and the last man resisting also ended up loving the mighty Big Brother.

Ssemakadde’s election to lead the Uganda Law Society (ULS) last weekend was the first to arouse so much interest in the Ugandan public outside the legal community. For here was a wild-haired, wild-eyed and wildly dressed guy seeking to lead the country’s lawyers, whom the public associates with sharp suits, Mercedes Benz with trappings that define elitism and money. Ssemakadde has no money.

The election also recorded the highest voter turnout in ULS’ history and the dreadlocked rebel won it with a dizzying landslide, nearly tripling the opponent’s ballots.

And the first casualty of Ssemakadde’s battle is clarity in interpreting what his mission is supposed to be. Even some in his campaign team have a narrow interpretation of their man’s role and, hopefully, Ssemakadde himself doesn’t narrow down his focus from what he has been professing.