Kampala, Uganda: The Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court has remanded lawyer Male Mabirizi on charges of spreading malicious information and hate speech against Constitutional Court and Court of Appeal Justice Musa Ssekaana and newly appointed Chief Justice Dr Flavian Zeija.
Mabirizi was arraigned on Tuesday before Chief Magistrate Ritah Neumbe Kidasa, facing four charges of hate speech and malicious information against the top judges in the country’s judiciary.
State prosecution led by Chief State Attorney Joan Keko and Richard Birivumbuka contends that Mabirizi used his TikTok account @male.mabirizi to circulate false and defamatory claims about Chief Justice Zeija, alleging that he is a conman, fraudster, corrupt, a “court file grabber,” and that he sold property to bribe his way into becoming Principal Judge of Uganda.
The prosecutors argued that the claims were knowingly false and intended to ridicule, demean or degrade the Chief Justice in the eyes of the public.
Similar allegations were levelled against Justice Musa Ssekaana, with Mabirizi accused of falsely branding the judge a conman and fraudster, statements the prosecution said were calculated to ridicule and undermine the authority of the judiciary.
Earlier in the proceedings, Mabirizi initially declined to take plea, citing personal objections to the presiding magistrate. He told court that Chief Magistrate Kidasa is married to Don Wanyama, the New Vision Group boss, whom he accused of oppressing him, and further claimed that Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, whom he also described as an oppressor, attended their wedding.
After consultations with his lawyers, led by Uganda Law Society Vice President Anthony Asiimwe, Mabirizi later denied all the charges.
Court remanded Mabirizi until February 18, 2026, when the prosecution is expected to update court on the status of investigations.
This is not Mabirizi’s first confrontation with the judiciary. On January 27, 2022, Justice Musa Ssekaana, then Head of the High Court Civil Division, ordered him to pay Shs300 million for contempt of court after posting sustained social media attacks against Justice Phillip Odoki.
The attacks followed Justice Odoki’s dismissal of Mabirizi’s application seeking to restrain the Capital Markets Authority from extending the MTN IPO window and listing shares on the Uganda Securities Exchange, citing legal incorporation defects.
Despite stern warnings from Justice Ssekaana to desist from attacking judicial officers, Mabirizi continued publishing derogatory content on social media platforms, including X, formerly Twitter. Days later, exiled former Uganda Law Society President Isaac Kimaze Ssemakadde posted vulgar attacks against Justice Ssekaana, which Mabirizi amplified by retweeting.
Mabirizi was subsequently sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for persistent attacks on judicial officers, a sentence he served until 2023.
Former Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, who has since retired, described the abuse directed at Justice Ssekaana as “the gravest” he encountered during his tenure and warned that the Uganda Law Society risked consequences if it failed to apologise.
A month later, Ssemakadde was slapped with an international arrest warrant and sentenced to two years in prison, though he remains in exile amid unsuccessful appeals for pardon or sentence quashing. The Uganda Law Society has since declined to retreat, instead calling for an urgent dialogue facilitated by neutral mediators to restore confidence in justice, fairness and due process.
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