Wakilii

In Re Ivan Samuel Ssebadduka (Presidential Election Petition 1 of 2020)

Supreme Court · [2020] UGSC 57 · 2020 Contemnor Sentenced to Three Years' Imprisonment ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Summary contempt of court proceedings, and sentencing, arising from Presidential Election Petition No. 1 of 2020
Decision
Contemnor convicted of contempt of court and sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

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Holding

The Court held that the contemnor had committed contempt in the face of the Court through persistent scurrilous written attacks on the justices in his election-petition pleadings, and that he was wholly unrepentant, having admitted filing a meritless petition to subject the Court to abuse and impede justice. The Court reasoned that contempt law protects the administration of justice and the public — not judicial dignity — and must not curtail legitimate fair criticism, but that gross affronts obstructing justice warrant punishment. It affirmed that the Supreme Court, as a court of first instance in a presidential election petition, may punish contempt summarily, mutatis mutandis with the High Court, the power deriving from the common law and recognised by Article 28(12). It sentenced him to three years' imprisonment.

Facts

The contemnor filed Presidential Election Petition No. 1 of 2020 against the Chairman of the Electoral Commission and others. In his pleadings, affidavit evidence, and several written communications filed at the Supreme Court Registry on 7 and 9 September and 4 and 5 November 2020, he directed repeated and escalating insults at the Chief Justice and the Justices of the Supreme Court, describing them as, among other things, incompetent fools, a council of fools, and the centre of injustice, and disparaging the Court itself and its earlier ruling. The Court took cognizance of these utterances on the face of the record and cited him for contempt, then formally charged him and afforded him an opportunity to show cause. At the hearing he read a prepared statement in which he reiterated and perpetuated the abuse, showed no remorse, and admitted he had deliberately stage-managed his conduct and filed a petition he knew to be meritless in order to subject the Court to abuse and contempt and to impede the course of justice.

Issues

  1. What sentence is commensurate with the gravity of contempt of court committed in the face of the court.
  2. Whether the Supreme Court, sitting as a court of first instance in a presidential election petition, has jurisdiction to punish summarily for contempt of court.
  3. Whether the application of the law of contempt of court must be reconciled with the constitutional right to freedom of speech and fair criticism of the courts.

Orders

  • The contemnor is sentenced to serve three years in prison.

Key headnotes

Contempt of Court — Purpose of the Law — Protection of the Administration of Justice, Not Judicial Dignity
The law of contempt of court does not exist to protect the personal dignity or feelings of judges but to protect the public and the due administration of justice from any act calculated to obstruct, interfere with, or pervert the lawful process of the courts.
Contempt of Court — Contempt in the Face of the Court — Summary Jurisdiction
Where the acts constituting contempt of court are manifest from the face of the record, the court is seized with jurisdiction to deal with the contempt summarily rather than through the ordinary criminal trial process.
Contempt of Court — Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court — Court of First Instance in a Presidential Election Petition
The power to punish for contempt of court is derived from the common law and is enjoyed by every court of law; the Supreme Court, sitting as a court of first instance in a presidential election petition, may exercise that power mutatis mutandis with the High Court.
Freedom of Speech — Fair Criticism of the Courts — Limits of Contempt
Fair criticism of courts and their decisions, even when outspoken, made in good faith and within the limits of reasonable courtesy, does not constitute contempt; the law of contempt must not be applied in breach of the constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression.
Contempt of Court — Article 28(12) — Exception to the Principle of Legality
Article 28(12) of the Constitution recognises contempt of court as an express exception to the rule that no person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless the offence is defined and its penalty prescribed by written law.
Contempt of Court — Sentencing — Gravity and Deterrence
A sentence for contempt of court must be commensurate with the gravity of the offence and serve as a deterrent, the justification for the penalty being the court's duty to protect the sanctity and integrity of the administration of justice upon which law and order rests.

Legislation cited (4)

  • Penal Code Act s.107(3)
  • Constitution of Uganda 1995 art.126(1)
  • Constitution of Uganda 1995 art.28(12)
  • Constitution of Uganda 1995 art.1

Cases cited (16)

  • Attorney General v Times Newspapers Ltd [1991] 2 All ER 398
  • Re Johnson (1880) 20 QBD 68
  • Johnson v Grant 1923 SC 789
  • Morris v Crown Office [1970] 2 QB 114
  • Attorney General v Times Newspapers Ltd [1974] AC 273
  • Attorney General v Leveller Magazine Ltd [1979] AC 440
  • Morris v The Home Office [1970] 1 All ER 1079
  • Jenison v Baker [1972] 1 All ER 997
  • Robert Austin Mullery vs R. [195?] E.A. 138 at p. 142
  • Mr Lechmere Charlton's Case (1837) 2 My & Cr 316; 40 ER 411
  • R v Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Ex parte Blackburn (No. 2) [1968] 2 All ER 319
  • R v Gray [1900] 2 QB 36
  • Comet Products UK Ltd v Hawkex Plastics Ltd [1971] 2 QB 67
  • R v Almon (1765) Wilm 243
  • Skipworth's Case (1873) LR 1 QB 230
  • R v Davies [1906] 1 KB 32
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.