Justice Odoki returns to Supreme Court

By Ann Mugisa and Raymond Baguma

The Attorney General, Peter Nyombi, has confirmed that Justice Benjamin Odoki and three other retired justices of the Supreme Court have been returned to Supreme Court.

He however, refuted reports that Odoki was re-appointed Chief Justice as had earlier been reported.

“The issue of the Chief Justice is still being handled. I think you people are being hasty in the things you are writing. Not until that instrument is signed can anyone say that a Chief Justice has been appointed and right now that instrument is not there,” Nyombi said.

The other justices who have also been returned in acting capacity include Galdino Okello, John Wilson Tsekooko and Christine Kitumba.

However, Odoki could not be reached to say whether he is accepting the re-appointment or not.

Justice Odoki retired in March after clocking the retirement age of 70 years and serving in the office for 12 years. He, however, left office in June after serving the three months' extension retired judges are given to complete pending work.
Since his retirement, Odoki has been serving with the Swaziland Supreme Court on a part-time basis and also helped to write the Swaziland constitution.

Attorney General Nyombi recently said that the Constitution provides for the re-appointment of a judge who has retired on account of age.

Article 142 (2) states, in part, that “the President may, acting on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission, appoint a person qualified for appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court or a Justice of Appeal or a Judge of the High Court to act as such a justice or judge even though that person has attained the age prescribed for retirement in respect of that office.”

In April, Justice Odoki wrote a concept paper, making a case for raising the retirement age for High Court judges in Uganda from 65 to 70 and Supreme Court to from 70-75.