Who is Justice John B. Katutsi?

Mar 07, 2006

<b>By Jude Etyang</b><br><br>JUSTICE John Bosco Katutsi of the High Court, sitting at Kampala, yesterday read out his “not guilty” verdict in the rape case against former presidential candidate Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye. Earlier, Katutsi handled Besigye’s bail application but later refused to h

By Jude Etyang

JUSTICE John Bosco Katutsi of the High Court, sitting at Kampala, yesterday read out his “not guilty” verdict in the rape case against former presidential candidate Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye. Earlier, Katutsi handled Besigye’s bail application but later refused to hear a treason case against Besigye, saying he risked becoming a specialist in “Besigyeism”. But who is Justice Katutsi?
From his own mouth, Katutsi hails from the same district as Besigye (Rukungiri) and this was another reason he gave for pulling out of the treason case against Besigye. He says his parents originally lived in Kabale, where he was born in 1954, and later migrated to Rukungiri, where he also wishes to rest in eternity.
Katutsi’s decision to pull out of the treason case together with other related incidents at the time sparked off speculation as to whether Judges handling seemingly political cases were being intimidated by the state. But Katutsi seems to be the last man that would succumb to intimidation. A man of few words, he has endured ups and downs during his 32-year career and at one time he resigned from the judiciary when he felt things were not moving in a proper manner. Thus he has maintained the humility of being soft spoken and standing by principle. In this light, Katutsi would not be swept by questions of whether Judges were being used for political persecution or they were sympathisers of the opposition.
In a rare interview with New Vision, Justice Katutsi asserts that he is a man of his word and explains by revealing that his role model is St. Thomas More, a prominent lawyer in medieval Britain who was executed on treason charges for standing by his word. A prominent lawyer and Speaker of Parliament, St Thomas was beheaded under the reign of King Henry VIII of England after he refused to sign a law to de-link England from the Roman Catholic Church. His final words on the scaffold before being beheaded were: “The King’s good servant, but God’s First.”
Katutsi explains why he draws inspiration from St. Thomas: “I admire More because he was a man who couldn’t go against his oath.” Katutsi, a Catholic, says that like More he is guided in his life by both religious and professional values. “I am a man of humble beginnings but religion has shaped me,” the graying man in wig says.
Katutsi’s trademark in court is that classic look and peep above his small spectacles. He started his career as a judicial officer in 1974 when he was posted to Mbale as a Magistrate after graduating from Makerere University.
Katutsi is not new to politically charged cases. His loyalty to the judicial oath was put to test when he was still a novice in the trade. While serving as a Magistrate in Tororo in 1975, he remanded Sara Amin, the wife of the late dictator Idi Amin, when she was brought before him to be charged. She had been caught smuggling goods out of Uganda. “I remanded her but I didn’t try the case. It was given to another Magistrate,” he says with a glimmer of nostalgia.
In 1980, while a Chief Magistrate in Kabale, Katutsi resigned from the judiciary because he did not want to serve under Obote’s regime. “Obote’s regime was coming and I didn’t want to serve under it,” he says but declines to say whether it was because he also believed the elections had been rigged. In 2001, he sentenced Toro Kingdom Premier John Sanyu Katuramu to death for murdering Prince Happy Kijanangoma.
Katutsi is a family man. He has nine children, two of them lawyers in private practice in Kampala. His hobby is playing golf. “I am not that good but I have won some trophies, though not major ones,” he says with a smile of satisfaction on his face.

jetyang@newvision.co.ug

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