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Thursday, 15th February 2018Complaints against the approval of persons nominated forappointment as Judicial O!cers by the PresidentEarly this month, the President nominated 14 persons to be appointed to thepositions of Justices of Appeal and Judges of the High Court. Of the 14persons nominated, four Justices were for the Court of Appeal and 10 for theHigh Court.As required by the Constitution, the list of the nominees was forwarded tothe Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda for approval.The Appointments Committee, chaired by the Rt. Hon. Speaker of ParliamentRebecca Kadaga, sat on Wednesday, 14th February and Thursday, 15thFebruary 2018 to consider the nominees.Parliament, however, received complaints against /ve nominees, that is,Justice Stephen Musota and Justice Christopher Madrama, nominated for -
appointment as Justices of Appeal. The others were His Worship PaulGadenya, His Worship Alex Ajiji and His Worship Asiimwe Tadeo, nominatedfor appointment as Judges of the High Court.Upon receipt of the complaints, the O4ce of the Speaker set out toinvestigate the matter. It should be noted that the complainants stated thatthey had /led their grievances with the Judicial Service Commission andtherefore the Appointments Committee consulted the Commission on theirhandling of the various matters complained of.The complainants against the judicial o4cers included: Mr. Kercan Prosper, aGrade II Magistrate, who complained about his administrative transfer fromNabweru Court to Kiboga. He said his transfer was malicious and intended tofrustrate his pursuit of a masters degree. JSC noted that the Magistrate hadnot formally informed his employer that he was pursuing a course of study.The complainant was transferred due to the many complaints against him atthe court that included land disputes.A one Male Mabirizi complained of being prevented from sitting at the Barwhile defending himself in a matter. JSC said the complainant is not anadvocate of the High Court and therefore has no right to sit at the Bar. It wasalso noted that Mr. Mabirizi appears to be a serial complainant against theJudiciary and other organs whenever decisions don’t go his way.Other complaints forwarded to the JSC didn’t have substance to be formallyentertained.NoThe Appointments Committee established that all the complaints /led withthe Judicial Service Commission had no merit and proceeded to vet them.The report on the Committee’s interaction with the nominees will be sent tothe President as required by the Rules of Procedure of Parliament.
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