One month later, Museveni yet to replace CJ Katureebe

A couple of days before he could retire as Chief Justice, Justice Bart Katureebe in writing informed President Museveni of his looming retirement.

Justice Katureebe, according to close sources, thought Mr Museveni would appoint his successor immediately.
Tomorrow, marks a month ever since Katureebe retired having clocked 70 years – the mandatory retirement age for a Supreme Court Judge- but Uganda is yet to get a substantive Chief Justice.

Justice Alfonse Owiny- Dollo, the Deputy Chief Justice, has stepped in as Acting Chief Justice and the State House is insisting that there is no need for raising an alarm since according to them, the Judiciary is functioning well without a substantive Chief Justice.

“The President won’t be stampeded,” the President’s senior press secretary, Don Wanyama, said adding: “The matter is on the President’s desk. There’s an acting Chief Justice. The judges are hearing cases. The President will appoint a Chief Justice when he deems it fit.”

Though the President and his minions think that it’s too early to demand for a Chief Justice, many legal minds interviewed for this story couldn’t help but wind back to the years between 2013 and 2015 when Museveni refused to appoint Justice Benjamin Odoki’s successor.

In those two years, Justice Steven Kavuma stepped in to act as both the Acting Chief Justice and Acting Deputy Chief Justice, a move the Constitutional Court ruled as unconstitutional. Though the Justice Kavuma scenario can be distinguished from the current, since Owiny-Dollo is a substantive Deputy Chief Justice, too many legal minds claim that the mere fact the Judiciary can go a month without a substantive head is indicative of where it falls in Museveni’s priorities.

“The executive can’t phantom even going a single day without a President and that’s why they are forcing into the so-called virtual elections. But it’s fine for the judiciary which is an arm of government that checks the executive to go a month without a Chief Justice. This is unacceptable, ” Mr Isaac Kimaze Ssemakadde, the Chief Executive Officer of Legal Brains Trust (LBT), a civil society organisation, said.

Peter Walubiri, the constitutional law expert and partner at Kwesigabo, Bamwine & Walubiri advocates, insists the delay to appoint the Chief Justice fits perfectly within Museveni’s agenda asserting who is boss.

“This is just another indication of how he simply doesn’t respect institutions. The President has a weak Parliament.

So even the Judiciary, which must check him must be weak. He wants to keep everybody guessing. Everybody must wait for him. It’s a sad state of affairs,” he said.

The Judiciary is not the only institution that has suffered following Museveni’s dilly-dallying in appointing top leaders.

Since 2018 until recently, Museveni had declined to appoint Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) substantive executive director following the resignation of Ms Jennifer Musisi causing a paralysis at the institution.

Works at the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) have been grounded ever since Meddie Kaggwa, its chairperson, passed on late last year.

Dr Katebalirwe Amooti Wa Irumba has stepped in as acting chairperson of the Commission.
Mr Museveni’s work has now piled up since he also has to look for another Inspector General of Government (IGG) following the end of Justice Irene Mulyagoja’s contract.

Although Mulyagonja’s departure has been known since last year when she was appointed by as a Court of Appeal judge, her replacement has not yet been found.

However, Mr Wanyama said: “There is no evidence that lack of substantive leaders both at KCCA and UHRC hascreated a crisis.”

According to sources who preferred anonymity, in the Judiciary a similar conundrum faces Owiny-Dollo who can’t set out his agenda since things can change anytime.

“He can’t plan in the long term. Everything he does is in the short term. The longer it takes the more anxious people will become,” the source said. Undeniably, the Judiciary is in the process of implementing the Administration of the Judiciary Act and a substantive Chief Justice is expected to take centre stage in its execution.

“The Chief Justice’s role is administrative in nature. There are decisions that an acting Chief Justice can’t make because he is overlooking over his shoulders. What if he isn’t confirmed for the job? He can’t be decisive,” Mr Walubiri said.

The process of looking for a new Chief Justice was rolled out in January when the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the body that vets judicial officers, started receiving applications from potential candidates.

On March 21, Sunday Monitor broke the story how the JSC led by Justice Benjamin Kabiito had interviewed Justice Owiny- Dollo and two Supreme Court justices Richard Buteera and Esther Kisaakye for the Chief Justice’s job.

Museveni’s delay to appoint Justice Katureebe’s successor, according to several sources, is attributed to the fact the JSC only submitted the people or person it deemed fit for appointment one week before Katureebe would retire on June 20.

“The President has to personally do a lot of vetting for the person who would become Chief Justice. We don’t know the intentions of the vetting but that’s what happens,” said Prof Frederick Ssempebwa who thinks the delay isn’t shocking in light of what happened when Justice Odoki retired seven years ago. “This is Africa.”

The procrastination in appointing the Chief Justice, in its self, is an affront on the independence of the Judiciary.
“If you are among the contestants for the position of Chief Justice, how are you going to rule against the President or his interests during this period when he is yet to decide?” Mr Walubiri asked.

“We know there is now a lot of lobbying going on for the position [ Chief Justice]. The delay will definitely have an impact on how the contestants rule in matters that this government has an interest in.”

Mr Ssempebwa widened the scope saying the judiciaries in the region are grappling with constitutions that give presidents lots of powers such as the authority to appoint judges and chief justices.

He cited how Kenyan Chief Justice David Maraga is at loggerheads with President Uhuru Kenyata who has so far refused to appoint 41 judges who were recommended by the country’s JSC.

“Having observed what had happened in [Uganda], I told Kenyans when they were reviewing their constitution not to give their president a lot of powers and they never listened to me. The presidents appoint almost everybody. That’s why we are having all these problems,” Ssempebwa, who was a member of the committee of experts charged with advising on the amendment of the constitution of the of Kenya, explained.

As of now, Justice Owiny-Dollo will continue leading the Judiciary and his temporary leadership is buttressed under Article 133 (2) of the Constitution which stipulates that “Where the office of the Chief Justice is vacant or where the Chief Justice is for any reason unable to perform the functions of his or her office, then until a person has been appointed to and has assumed the functions of that office or until the Chief Justice has resumed the performance of those functions, those functions shall be performed by the Deputy Chief Justice.”