300 complaints filed against judicial officers
The Judicial Service Commission is stuck with the complaints following the expiry, in February, of the term of office for most of the commissioners, including the chairperson, Justice James Ogoola (pictured). File photo
Kampala. A total of 300 complaints have been filed against judicial officers yet there is no one to act on them. The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is stuck with the complaints following the expiry, in February, of the term of office for most of the commissioners, including the chairperson, Justice James Ogoola.
The Secretary to the Commission, Mr Kagole Kivumbi, told Daily Monitor the impasse means complaints against judicial officers can’t be decided until it gets a new chairman and is also properly constituted.
The official explained that at the moment, the commission can only carry out investigations against judicial officers but a decision cannot be taken on any complaint.
“A decision can’t be reached at all because there is no commission in place at the moment. What we can only do now is to initiate the investigations but we can’t make the final decision,” Mr Kagole told this newspaper.
He added: “Even the recruitment, confirmation and interdiction of judicial officers can’t be effected.”
Among the more than 300 pending complaints before the commission is that of remanded Opposition leader, Dr Kizza Besigye, who wants the JSC to probe the suitability of Deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma as justice of the Court of Appeal/Constitutional Court.
Dr Besigye, who is facing treason charges for allegedly swearing-in himself as president of Uganda, claims that the deputy chief justice is close to the Executive arm of government and that instead of doing judicial work in line with the oath he took, he is allegedly doing the bidding of President Museveni, who is the appointing authority.
The other challenge that has arisen due to the non-existence of the commission is that recruitment of judicial officers has also been halted.
The Judicial Service Commission is a government body mandated to mainly recruit and discipline errant judicial officers.
Currently, there are two vacancies at the Supreme Court, two at the Court of Appeal/Constitutional Court, two at the High Court and dozens at the lower courts to be filled.
Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Kahinda Otafiire said: “Any chairperson and commissioners will soon be appointed.”
In his final interview with this newspaper, outgoing chairperson of the commission, justice Ogoola said he was retiring with his head high.
“We introduced profound reforms in the commission that saw us advertise the position of Chief Justice. These kind of recruitment reforms were intended to promote competition, transparency and accountability for the public to know about our recruitment processes and apply openly for the available vacancies and later be invited for real interviews,” said Justice Ogoola.
He explained that in his four-year tenure, he introduced several changes and recruitments, including advertising in the print media the positions of the highest offices in the Judiciary of the Chief Justice and deputy. The said advertised positions have since been occupied by justices Bart Katureebe and Kavuma respectively.
