Justice Ogoola: A man of integrity
Oct 05, 2005
For the second time in five years, Justice James Ogoola has been appointed to head a judicial commission of inquiry. In 2000, he inquired into the collapse of three indigenous banks. this time, the commission will be inquiring into the mismanagement of the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuber
By Edward Kayondo
For the second time in five years, Justice James Ogoola has been appointed to head a judicial commission of inquiry. In 2000, he inquired into the collapse of three indigenous banks. this time, the commission will be inquiring into the mismanagement of the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.
The board of the Global Fund based in Geneva Switzerland last month suspended disbursements of the $200m fund to Uganda following a PricewaterHouseCoopers audit report that cited “serious mismanagement of funds†by the project management unit of the health ministry.
Justice Ogoola described the amount as mind-boggling and said stealing aid money was like stealing from a dead man’s coffin or pulling the only rag from under the feeble feet of patients. He said his team would climb every mountain in pursuit of the truth.
Wil Ross, a BBC stringer in Kampala, described him as a determined Judge, who uses flowery language.
Ogoola was born in August 1945 at Lumino Busia in the then Bukedi district to Mr and Mrs Yukana Madugu, both peasant cultivators.
He attended Nabumali Junior school and joined Nabumali High school, Mbale in 1960 for his ordinary levels. He was a form captain and a member of the school hockey and tennis teams. He sat for Cambridge School certificate in 1963 and obtained a grade A, with a distinction in English.
Rev. Can. Bottomley the headmaster of Nabumali High School (1930-64), gave him a first-class recommendation, “His English is very good; he is a very good lad, Nabumali can ill spare him.†He joined Budo in 1964 for A’ levels, landing in the same class as his “village mates†Benjamin Odoki, now the chief justice and Wilson Wanyama, a retired permanent secretary.
He lived in Canada house, where he was a prefect in 1965, was a hockey school captain a member of the debating society and secretary of the historical society.
He took the 1965 S.5 form prize (1965), school prize for English Essays (Brooke bond competition (1965) and was voted best speaker in the inter-house elocution competition in 1965.
He was retained by Budo immediately after his A’Level exams pending results, to teach History and English armed with three principal passes including an A in History. he was admitted to the University College of Dar-es-salaam in 1966 to study law. He was elected secretary of the Uganda students Association, with Benjamin Odoki and Tom Buruku as committee members.
He interacted widely with all students, among them, President Yoweri Museveni, his future appointing authority. He returned to Uganda in 1969 and worked as a state attorney, senior legislative draftsman and principal state attorney. He was called to the Bar of the High Court in 1970.
In 1973, he proceeded to Columbia University, New York, USA for a masters degree in law. He joined the International Monetary Fund as the first African to serve as its legal advisor. He was posted as its counsellor in Washington DC, 1974-1978, counsellor in Paris 1978-1980 and again to Washington DC as Senior counsellor 1980-1988 and 1991-1997.
He joined the Africa Development Bank in 1988 and rose from being deputy director, legal department, to acting deputy secretary general.
He was appointed judge of the Uganda High Court in 1995, judge of the COMESA Court of Justice 1999 and head of the Commercial Court in 2001. Under his leadership the Commercial court has been a success resolving wrangles in weeks instead of months and years it used to take, hence contributing to Uganda’s position as one of the preferred destinations of foreign direct investment.
In May 2000, he was appointed member of a panel of three judges to oversee certain aspects of the national referendum on the constitutional governance of Uganda.
From 2000 to 2001, he was a member of two special panels of judges constituted by the chief justice for the removal of the district chairman of Iganga and Sembabule. He was appointed principal judge in 2004.
A man of high integrity, he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal saviour in 1990. He politely, but firmly rejected a contribution towards the burial expenses of his mother-in-law from a man who had a court case before him in 2004.
He translated the New Testament in to Lusamia-Lugwere. He was the chairman of the Fundraising Committee of the All saints Cathedral in 2002 and has been instrumental in building of churches in eastern Uganda.
He headed the team that was responsible for the visit of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Carey to the Bishop Hannington memorial shrine at Budimo, Samia-Bugwe in May 1998.
He is happily married to Florence Wandera and they are blessed with five children. As he left Budo in 1966, Ogoola wrote “One hopes that Budo will never have the occasion to be ashamed of usâ€. Indeed, the nation is proud of you.
For the second time in five years, Justice James Ogoola has been appointed to head a judicial commission of inquiry. In 2000, he inquired into the collapse of three indigenous banks. this time, the commission will be inquiring into the mismanagement of the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.
The board of the Global Fund based in Geneva Switzerland last month suspended disbursements of the $200m fund to Uganda following a PricewaterHouseCoopers audit report that cited “serious mismanagement of funds†by the project management unit of the health ministry.
Justice Ogoola described the amount as mind-boggling and said stealing aid money was like stealing from a dead man’s coffin or pulling the only rag from under the feeble feet of patients. He said his team would climb every mountain in pursuit of the truth.
Wil Ross, a BBC stringer in Kampala, described him as a determined Judge, who uses flowery language.
Ogoola was born in August 1945 at Lumino Busia in the then Bukedi district to Mr and Mrs Yukana Madugu, both peasant cultivators.
He attended Nabumali Junior school and joined Nabumali High school, Mbale in 1960 for his ordinary levels. He was a form captain and a member of the school hockey and tennis teams. He sat for Cambridge School certificate in 1963 and obtained a grade A, with a distinction in English.
Rev. Can. Bottomley the headmaster of Nabumali High School (1930-64), gave him a first-class recommendation, “His English is very good; he is a very good lad, Nabumali can ill spare him.†He joined Budo in 1964 for A’ levels, landing in the same class as his “village mates†Benjamin Odoki, now the chief justice and Wilson Wanyama, a retired permanent secretary.
He lived in Canada house, where he was a prefect in 1965, was a hockey school captain a member of the debating society and secretary of the historical society.
He took the 1965 S.5 form prize (1965), school prize for English Essays (Brooke bond competition (1965) and was voted best speaker in the inter-house elocution competition in 1965.
He was retained by Budo immediately after his A’Level exams pending results, to teach History and English armed with three principal passes including an A in History. he was admitted to the University College of Dar-es-salaam in 1966 to study law. He was elected secretary of the Uganda students Association, with Benjamin Odoki and Tom Buruku as committee members.
He interacted widely with all students, among them, President Yoweri Museveni, his future appointing authority. He returned to Uganda in 1969 and worked as a state attorney, senior legislative draftsman and principal state attorney. He was called to the Bar of the High Court in 1970.
In 1973, he proceeded to Columbia University, New York, USA for a masters degree in law. He joined the International Monetary Fund as the first African to serve as its legal advisor. He was posted as its counsellor in Washington DC, 1974-1978, counsellor in Paris 1978-1980 and again to Washington DC as Senior counsellor 1980-1988 and 1991-1997.
He joined the Africa Development Bank in 1988 and rose from being deputy director, legal department, to acting deputy secretary general.
He was appointed judge of the Uganda High Court in 1995, judge of the COMESA Court of Justice 1999 and head of the Commercial Court in 2001. Under his leadership the Commercial court has been a success resolving wrangles in weeks instead of months and years it used to take, hence contributing to Uganda’s position as one of the preferred destinations of foreign direct investment.
In May 2000, he was appointed member of a panel of three judges to oversee certain aspects of the national referendum on the constitutional governance of Uganda.
From 2000 to 2001, he was a member of two special panels of judges constituted by the chief justice for the removal of the district chairman of Iganga and Sembabule. He was appointed principal judge in 2004.
A man of high integrity, he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal saviour in 1990. He politely, but firmly rejected a contribution towards the burial expenses of his mother-in-law from a man who had a court case before him in 2004.
He translated the New Testament in to Lusamia-Lugwere. He was the chairman of the Fundraising Committee of the All saints Cathedral in 2002 and has been instrumental in building of churches in eastern Uganda.
He headed the team that was responsible for the visit of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Carey to the Bishop Hannington memorial shrine at Budimo, Samia-Bugwe in May 1998.
He is happily married to Florence Wandera and they are blessed with five children. As he left Budo in 1966, Ogoola wrote “One hopes that Budo will never have the occasion to be ashamed of usâ€. Indeed, the nation is proud of you.