Museveni names Supreme Court judges

Jul 30, 2009

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has appointed three new Judges to the Supreme Court. One of them is the former Inspector General of Government, Jotham Tumwesigye, the chairperson of the Citizenship and Immigration Board.

By Anne Mugisa

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has appointed three new Judges to the Supreme Court. One of them is the former Inspector General of Government, Jotham Tumwesigye, the chairperson of the Citizenship and Immigration Board.

Justice Christine Kitumba of the Court of Appeal has also been moved to the Supreme Court. The other person appointed is Dr. Esther Mayambala Kisakye, a lecturer at Makerere University’s Faculty of Law.

Dr. Kisakye who has just returned from doing her PhD in the US, has been at the faculty for 20 years.

She also served at the Judicial Service Commission until about four or five years ago when she went for studies.

The appointments, which are subject to the approval of the Parliament, follow the retirement of two judges from the Supreme Court. The lack of judges had hampered work at the court.

Seven judges are needed to form the coram to hear appeals. A third judge, George Kanyeihamba, is also due to retire this year. The last judicial appointments were done in May last year, when three judges were appointed to the High Court.

About a week ago, former Rubaga South MP, John Ken Lukyamuzi, dragged the Government to the Constitutional Court, saying it was illegal for the President not to appoint judges.

Lukyamuzi complained that the Supreme Court could not hear the appeals including his challenging his removal from Parliament because of lack of coram.

Sources said six constitutional appeals including Lukyamuzi’s have been pending since 2007.

Lukyamuzi petitioned the Constitutional Court in 2006, saying his removal from Parliament by the IGG was unconstitutional. He lost the case in the Constitutional Court.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});