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Mabirizi asks parliament to reject appointment of Chief Justice

FILE PHOTO: Newly appointed Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Lawyer Male Mabirizi has asked the Parliament to reject the appointment of Alfonse Owiny-Dollo and Richard Buteera as the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice respectively.

Mabirizi says Owiny-Dollo is incompetent to fill the Chief Justice position while Buteera is being faulted for having been appointed into a non-vacant position.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on Thursday forwarded the said names to the Parliamentary Appointments Committee for vetting in respect to those positions.

But according to Mabirizi’s petition to Parliament Appointments Committee and Parliament as a whole, he points out that the two  two Justices should not be approved for those positions.

For Owiny-Dollo, Mabirizi contends that his past conduct puts him below the required standards because he is reportedly incompetent and he has engaged in acts of misbehavior and misconduct. He also accuses him of discriminating the self-representing litigants and using scare tactics towards parties demanding for their rights in Court.

Mabirizi contends that Owiny-Dollo has turned the constitutional court a no go for people not represented by Advocates and he reportedly tested his wrath on April 9, 2018 in Mbale during his petition challenging the removal of the presidential age limit from the constitution.

“When he, with threats to throw me out, evicted me from court seats because my only crime was being self-represented. He threw me to the dock as if I was standing criminal trial and when I protested, he said that his court was not going to be the first court to breach rules of fair hearing,” reads the petition in part.

Mabirizi also accuses Owiny-Dollo for denying him an opportunity to cross examine the Chief of Defense Forces, General David Muhoozi and helped the Commandant answer his questions.

He also faults him for failure to give reasons for not summoning the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga in the same case and not giving him an award of 20 million shillings like other petitioners.

In another separate petition concerning Justice Richard Buteera, Mabirizi says he doesn’t have any issue with his integrity, but the Supreme Court judge was reportedly appointed to a position that has not been vacant.

“It is common knowledge that as at the time of his nomination, the position of the Deputy Chief Justice was not vacant and indeed Honorable Justice Richard Buteera applied for, sat interviews, vetted and forwarded to the President on the post of Chief Justice and not Deputy Chief Justice which job was never advertised by the Judicial Service Commission,” says Mabirizi.

The position of Chief Justice became vacant after the retirement of former Chief Justice Bart Katureebe and before Owiny-Dollo was his deputy.

The President appoints judicial officers on the basis of recommendations sent to him by the Judicial Service Commission. But when contacted the registrar in charge of the directorate of Planning, Research and Inspectorate at Judicial Service Commission Julius Mwebembezi, he said he doesn’t attend the recommendation meetings and he doesn’t have a brief on what transpired there.

As such, Mabirizi wants the Parliament of Uganda not to approve them for the said positions.

When Uganda Radio Network -URN tried to get comment from the two Judges, they did not pick their calls.

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