Humanist

There is something that the President of the Uganda Law Society (ULS), Senior Counsel Isaac Ssemakade, said during his recent X-Space conversation that was hosted by Public Square that we, his highly engaged listeners, seem to have allowed to roll off our shoulders, so to speak.

Senior Counsel Ssemakadde said something to the effect that ULS “is broke” and that his predecessor, immediate past president ULS, Senior Counsel Bernard Oundo, had “taken the money.” He added something to the effect that weeks later there has not yet been a proper formal handover, including non-existence of exit reports of the out-going team and therefore the baseline for the incoming team.

It reminded me of a social media post by a member of the ULS, who during the assembly, commented something to the effect that the financial report presented at the ULS General Assembly that was held in September 2024 was for the year ended December 2023. Which I found bizarre.

Logic follows, yes, the audited financials for the previous year ended December 2023 would have been presented for approval. But they should have been accompanied by unaudited ones for the period January to September 2024. Without the latter report, it is difficult to substantiate and understand what Senior Counsel Ssemakadde alleges.

Nevertheless, this should be an issue of serious concern for us all – the seeming lack of transparency and financial accountability at the ULS. My expectation, in fact, was that after the X-Space, there would have been screaming headlines in the press:

“Uganda law society broke, alleges newly sworn in ULS President Ssemakadde,” or “In-Coming ULS President Ssemakadde accuses out-going ULS President Oundo of taking the society’s money.”

You catch my drift. But there was nothing. I am inclined to believe, however, that what Senior Counsel Ssemakadde meant is that the ULS is experiencing a cash-flow crisis, which is different from it being flat out broke. At least judging from its 2023 financial report, it is tough to accept that the society is penniless, for that is what broke means. It is obviously not impossible.

According to its 2023 financial report, case in point, ULS had a capital fund (property and equipment) valued at 5.4 billion shillings and a building fund of 5.2 billion shillings. If its property, equipment and building still exist, the ULS is likely not broke, but could be experiencing operating cash flow challenges.

We can assume, as it was the case for the previous year, that the internal revenue that ULS has generated in 2024 from membership fees and subscriptions is in excess of 3.9 billion shillings. And that in 2024, as it was in the previous year, ULS has attracted in excess of 4.5 billion shillings in external grant funding.

If these assumptions herein hold true, how is it that the ULS is experiencing cash flow challenges that are negatively impacting implementation of its last quarter action plans, as alleged by the ULS President Senior Counsel Ssemakadde?