Parliament Vets 11 New High Court Judges

Posted by: Eninu William in Uganda news July 22, 2023

Parliament’s Appointments Committee has vetted 11 new acting High Court judges recently appointed by President Yoweri Museveni. The vetting process chaired by Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among on Friday follows a notification by Clerk to Parliament Adolf Mwesige to members of the Appointments Committee issued on 17th July.

Those vetted include Jameson Karemani, Flavia Nabakooza, Phillip Willebrord Mwaka, Christine Akello Echookit, Amos Kwizera, David Makumbi, Samson Lwokya, Rosette Comfort Kania. The others are Patience Emily Tumusiime, Farouq Lubega, Jacqueline Mwondha, and Aisha Naluzze Batala.

Their appointment brings the number of High Court judges to 81 and this comes after the Parliament’s approval of an expanded staffing structure for High Court judges from the current 83 to 151 judges.

The #AppointmentsCommittee chaired by Speaker @AnitahAmong has vetted 13 presidential nominees. They include 11 Judges of the High Court appointed in acting capacity by H.E the President. pic.twitter.com/lj0eQ5HeqO

— Parliament of Uganda (@Parliament_Ug) July 21, 2023

With the new appointments, the staffing gap for judges remains at 70.

Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo has on several occasions attributed the case backlog in court to the low number of judges. In August during the release of the Annual Performance Report of the Judiciary, the Chief Justice said that about 7 trillion Shillings is locked up in undissolved disputes before the Commercial Division of the High Court.

He said the money is tied up due to a number of pending cases in the Court. They have now accumulated and cannot easily be concluded within the shortest period of time. This is because the current number of eight Judges who are deployed in that Court is small.

According to the report, in the Financial Year 2021/2022, courts disposed of a combined total of 205,967 cases out of a total caseload of 373,974. The report shows that it is a great improvement. This is compared to the Financial Year 2020/2021 where 156,875 cases out of the caseload of 317,929 were disposed of.

Meanwhile, the Appointments Committee also vetted the new Executive Director of the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), Samuel Were Wandera. He will replace Sydney Asubo. Also vetted is the Education Service Commission Chairperson, Dr.Samuel Luboga.

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