Lawyer Ssemakadde in Trouble over Alleged Business Reputation Damage on Mahathi Infra Uganda Limited
Mahathi Infra Uganda Ltd lawyers led by Robert Kirunda
Remarks ‘that have been established to be slander’ about Mahathi Infra Uganda Limited has landed lawyer Isaac Kimazze Ssemakadde of Centre for Legal Aid into problems.
Mahathi Infra Uganda Limited is a global company with branches in Uganda, India among other countries dealing in power, oil and gas.
The company which provides the infrastructure necessary to store and transport fuel and in East Africa it provides reliable seaborne transportation of oil from Kenya to Uganda with an aim to bring several benefits to the country and its economy has also built Uganda’s largest ship so far.
The ship has the capacity to bring into the country 4.6 million liters of fuel making it the first of 4 ships that the Company will build and put on Ugandan waters. This translates into massive employment opportunities for Ugandans and huge revenues for the government.
Why is Ssemakadde in Trouble?
Ssemakadde’s trouble, the Founder and CEO at Legal Brains Trust stems from the Wednesday September 27th 2021 press conference at Club Obligato in Kampala where he paraded a Chinese lady Wang Yong Yie before the reporters. The lady in her early 50s is said to be a widow to the late Ji Zong Wu who died at International Hospital Kampala (IHK) on September 11, 2021.
The deceased, according to Ssemakadde, reportedly traveled into the country to work at Mahathi Infra Uganda Ltd.
In the press conference, Ssemakadde claimed that Zong was received by Mahathi Infra Uganda Limited, before the company treated him to all manner of infringement including but not limited to confiscation of his passport, overstaying his visa, forced and illegal employment, and finally death due to the company’s outrageous negligence.
Such utterance of a negative about a company leads to significant damage to the reputation of a commercial entity, according to the company and a section of lawyers our reporters talked to.
The deceased died of Natural causes and had earlier been admitted at Mulago Cancer Institute after battling Immunological disorders for a long time.
‘’Ssemakadde should stop playing with such international brands over reasons known to him. Commercial enterprises work diligently to build a positive reputation in the community. Defamation of a business large or small can lead to a loss of income and profits, a negative reputation, and the potential ruin of the company’’, said one of the City female lawyers.
She added that; ‘’Seeking a cease and desist is not enough when the reputation is on the line. There must be a retraction of the false allegations against the company. It is possible to pursue a claim of defamation through the civil courts for monetary damages caused by the harmful words about the enterprise’’.
In a media briefing held at Sheraton on Thursday afternoon, Mahathi Infra, through their lawyers, Kirunda & Wasige Co.Advocates, denied ever recruiting Mr.Wu to work for them.
The company revealed that they never hired his services and so, dragging their brand into his ill-fated death aimed at causing reputational damage by lawyer Ssemakadde to attract unjustified concentration.
”Mr. Wu was not, at the time of his death, at the time of his coming into Uganda or at any point in his lifetime, an employee of Mahathi Infra Uganda Limited. Mahathi Infra did not recruit or procure Mr. Wu’s services in Uganda or from his country of origin. Mr. Wu’s widow is fully knowledgeable of who the deceased’s employer was,” said Kirunda.
Kirunda added that the Company and its principal persons and officers are treating the entirety of Ssemakadde’s communication as slanderous and defamatory material on the basis of which they have received firm and stern instructions to take decisive legal action.
”We will hold Mr.Semakadde and his clients to the strictest proof of their baseless, spurious and materially false allegations,” fumed counsel Kirunda
It is said that Wu’s services were procured by a different company and in the course of his employment, it was discovered that he suffered from Immunological disorders.
He further noted that ;”Our client condoles with Mrs Wu on the unfortunate demise of her husband. However, it is regrettable that Mr.Wu’s unfortunate demise is now being used to distract Uganda from the critical investment that our client is undertaking in the country.”
”To our client’s knowledge, Mr. Wu died from the escalation of his medical condition, for which limitations of science, unfortunately, have not facilitated a cure yet. He was not a victim of any of the matters alleged in yesterday’s statement,” added Kirunda.
He revealed that Mahathi Infra Ltd has sought Uganda Police’s intervention and an investigation is ongoing.
”Our client has full faith and confidence in the Uganda Police and all the relevant agencies and hospitals that treated the deceased to provide a full, thorough and complete account of the events and causes leading to Mr. Wu’s death’’.
This is not the first time Ssemakadde is facing trouble over charges including offensive communication.
Last year Ssemakadde was arrested in Kampala for reportedly insulting DPP Abodo on social networking site Twitter.
He was held at CID headquarters in Kibuli for interrogation, facing the same charges as his client Nyanzi in the same year: cyber harassment and offensive communication.
In the tweet that landed Ssemakadde into trouble with Abodo, the controversial lawyer claimed there was no difference between the new DPP and her predecessors (who include Mike Chibita). He further described her as “a rotten tomato” and “just another puppet” which landed him in mess.
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