Calls for independence of courts dominate start of judges’ meeting 

President Museveni last evening pledged to defend the Judiciary’s independence, a vow that came as the Uganda Law Society (ULS) seeks a meeting to discuss his interference in the affairs of the third arm of government.

The High Court yesterday reserved for midnight its ruling on whether or not to allow ULS to hold the extraordinary general meeting to discuss what they describe as the President’s interference in the affairs of the Judiciary. 

But Mr Museveni used the 25th annual judges’ conference to assure the courts of support from the Executive.

“I take this occasion to remind the people of Uganda that courts are independent in their preparations and must be allowed to function as such,” the President said in his remarks read by Vice President Jessica Alupo during the conference at Serena Hotel in Kampala.

He added: “Recently, I read a press release by the Honourable Chief Justice where he was reminding the public about the independence of the Judiciary to the execution of its mandate.”

Speaking at the same event, Justice Minister Norbert Mao regretted Mr Museveni’s letter to Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo regarding the then looming sale of the Muslim prime properties, including the land on which the national mosque at Old Kampala sits.

“You have known the case of the Muslim Supreme Council where the President wrote rather a controversial letter, I don’t know how such letters leak, as a minister, I’m embarrassed by the leakages,” Mr Mao said.

Adding: “Your Excellency, I don’t know what we are going to do about these leakages. Some of these things are intended for the person to whom the letter is addressed but you see it on Twitter (X) and this undermines the confidence the people should have in the Judiciary, thinking that we regularly give instructions to judges, which we are forbidden expressly from doing at least not directly. We can do it indirectly in public speech like what we are doing but not through a letter.”

Minister Mao also applauded the Chief Justice for guiding a magistrate who called him on what to do for a presidential candidate who had been violently arrested in Luuka District during the last presidential campaigns. The minister withheld the name of the said presidential candidate.

“I was very proud of the Chief Justice in two instances, I was a presidential candidate in the last elections and one of the candidates was arrested very violently in Luuka. Sometimes, the judicial officers at the junior level of magistrates look over their shoulders, asking who might be interested in this case rather than looking at the merits of the case,” the minister told the judges.

“So often, they turn to the Chief Justice, ‘my lord, I have a suspect here who is going to be on the ballot paper and he has been arrested, will I be in trouble if decide the bail application by way of my conscience and knowledge of the law?’ The Chief Justice said ‘consider the bail application within the law and make an independent decision,’” he added.

Last month, a section of lawyers petitioned the Uganda Law Society president, Mr Bernard Oundo, to call for an extraordinary meeting to, among others, discuss what they call an attack on the independence of the Judiciary.

Among the issues the lawyers want to be discussed is President Museveni’s letter to the Chief Justice on the attachment and sale of the Muslim properties.

“We, the undersigned members of the Uganda Law Society, concerned with a letter dated December 7, 2023, from His Excellency the President, addressed to the Chief Justice, giving directions on the conduct of a court matter, do hereby, petition for an extraordinary general meeting of the Uganda Law Society under Section 16 ... to be held within 14 days from the deposit of this petition with the secretary of the Uganda Law Society,” reads in part the January 8 petition of the lawyers led by Mr Isaac Kimaze.

Core to President Museveni’s letter to the Chief Justice was the directive to review an order on the then pending attachment and sale of eight Muslim prime properties.

The head of state was irritated about the court’s order to have a national mosque among the prime properties that were to be attached and auctioned.

“…However, I was most surprised to read in Mufti Mubajje’s letter that among the Moslem properties to be affected is the national mosque at Old Kampala! What sane person, let alone a judge, can make such orders? How can a mosque or church be attached for debts carelessly entered into by officials of that faith?” Mr Museveni wrote to the Chief Justice.

Adding: “I, therefore, request you to review this matter yourself and see how to restore sanity. His Eminence Mubajje alleges other examples of misconduct and collusion. You should study all those, what, however, provoked me was the audacity of attaching the national mosque. The NRM freedom fighters and the government they head, cannot be associated with sick logic.”

The move to compel the Uganda Law Society to convene the extraordinary general meeting was challenged before the High Court in Kampala by a concerned lawyer, Mr Brian Kirima. He contends that the matters to be discussed are “unlawful” and “outside the law and its mandate”.

Mr Kirima now wants the court to issue a declaration that the actions of the ULS in issuing notices calling for its members for an extraordinary general meeting today on the requisition of the members is illegal. The head of the Civil Division of the High Court, Justice Musa Ssekaana, last evening reserved his ruling for midnight.

It was not clear by press time whether the extraordinary general will be held today or not.

The lawyers were irked by their society for not coming out boldly to speak to the powers that be about the attack on the independence of the Judiciary by President Museveni.

“We are alarmed by the failure of the governing council of the Uganda Law Society to issue a public statement on the matters in this petition as a customary; and the failure by the president of the Uganda Law Society to heed calls to issue a public statement on these matter as a statutory imperative…,” the lawyers wrote in their petition to ULS.

Adding: “… the knowledge of the public’s reliance and expectation on the Uganda Law Society on matters of such public importance, our role as advocates in speaking truth to power, in holding government accountable, and as first-line defenders in the unending public duel against executive overreach.”

Article 128 (2) of the 1995 Constitution states:  “No person or authority shall interfere with the courts or judicial officers in the exercise of their judicial functions.”

The Chief Justice in his remarks on February 5 at the conference, applauded the government for the progressive enhancement of their annual budget from Shs199b and that their prayer is to get Shs800b.

The four-day conference is running under the theme, “A People-Centred Approach to Justice”. Speaker of Parliament Anita Among also attended the conference yesterday.

What they say
President Museveni.  “Recently, I read a press release by the Honourable Chief Justice where he was reminding the public about the independence of the Judiciary to the execution of its mandate. I take this occasion to remind the people of Uganda that courts are independent in their preparations and must be allowed to function as such.”

Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo: «When I took up the Judiciary in 2020,  our budget was laughable at Shs199 billion. The following year it was doubled. It has been upped again but we are not yet there. We need Shs800 billion mark.

Justice Minister Norbert Mao: “You have known the case of the Muslim Supreme Council where the President wrote rather a controversial letter, I don’t know how such letters leak, as a minister, I’m embarrassed by the leakages.” 

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