Ntabgoba protests deputy Chief Justice appointment

Felix Osike THE Principal Judge, Herbert Ntabgoba, has protested against the appointment of Mrs. Laetitia Mukasa Kikonyogo as deputy Chief Justice saying it was "suspicious and flawed." Ntabgoba also backed Supreme Court judge Prof. George Kanyeihamba's controversial letter to President Yoweri Museveni that Kikonyogo irregularly handled a divorce case in 1990. "There is documentary evidence and I informed the judges emergency meeting, that the procedure taken by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in the nomination of Kikonyogo as deputy Chief Justice is suspicious and flawed," Ntabgoba said in his January 8 letter to the former Chief Justice, Wako Wambuzi. "The JSC which is supposed to operate independently allowed itself to be influenced by the justice and constitutional affairs minister, Mayanja Nkangi, who does not sit on the Commission," the Principal Judge said. Ntabgoba said Kikonyogo whose name was forwarded as an accompaniment of the selected candidates, emerged the president's choice for the appointment as DCJ. He said the procedure adopted by JSC could have been misleading to the appointing authority. Ends