Kabaka appoints Justice Sebutinde Chancellor

By Jeff Andrew Lule                      

Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi has appointed Justice Julia Sebutinde the new Chancellor of Buganda Kingdom's Mutesa I Royal University.

This was disclosed by the Katikkiro Peter Charles Mayiga on Monday while addressing the Lukiiko (Buganda assembly) at Bulange Mengo, in Rubaga division.

Sebutinde is replacing the Kabaka who has been Chancellor since the university was initiated.

Mutebi was installed chancellor on April 15, 2011. The kingdom owned university, is the first of its kind in the country.

"The Kabaka appointed Justice Julia Sebutinde as the new Chancellor for Mutesa I Royal University. But the Kabaka remains Chancellor until Sebutinde is installed," he added.

Justice Sebutinde currently works with the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Hague, Netherlands.

The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.  It adjudicates between States and its legal opinions are binding.   

Who is Sebutinde?

Sebutinde chaired three probe commissions investigating allegations of corruption in the Uganda Police Force, the Ministry of Defence and the Uganda Revenue Authority, respectively.

In 2005 she was seconded to the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, where she was appointed Presiding Judge in the trial of Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia.

She graduated in 1977 from Makerere University and worked with the Ministry of Justice, where she rose to the level of Principal State Attorney/Principal Legislative Counsel. 

She also worked at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London and at the Ministry of Justice of Namibia.  In 1996 she was appointed Judge of the High Court of Uganda.