Hon. Chief Justice and the Hon. Deputy Chief Justice Sworn-in
Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe at the Swearing in Ceremony
The new Chief\r\nJustice, Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe and the Deputy Chief Justice, Hon. Justice\r\nSteven Bugingo Kukiriza Kavuma, were on 20 March 2015 sworn in, together with\r\nsix newly appointed ministers.
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The ceremony took\r\nplace at State House Entebbe presided over by President Yoweri Museveni.\r\nPresent was First Lady Janet Museveni, the acting Chief Registrar Isaac Muwata.\r\nJudiciary’s two top leaders and the new ministers were accompanied by their\r\nfamily members.
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In a short\r\ncongratulatory speech, President Museveni said Uganda’s top hierarchy, as\r\noutlined in the Constitution is now full. "According to the Constitution, the\r\npresident is number one, the vice president is number two, the speaker of\r\nParliament as number three, the chief justice is number four, followed by the\r\ndeputy speaker of Parliament, the deputy chief justice and the prime minister\r\nas number seven,” said the President.
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He said he now\r\nexpects the Judiciary to "handle with a lot of sensitivity” the serious crimes\r\nof murder, rape, defilement, matters that destabilize people’s freedoms and\r\nownership of property. "The Judiciary will have to address the issue of serious\r\ncrimes in this country as a matter of urgency,” said the President.
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President\r\nMuseveni further re-echoed his views on the need by the judicial officers to\r\nexercise extreme caution on matters of bail applications from capital\r\noffenders. "Bail in regard to these serious crimes is dangerous because it\r\ndestabilizes the process of justice in the eyes of the public and the victims,”\r\nsaid the president.
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To the new\r\nministers, President Museveni said he gets bothered with the slow pace of\r\nimplementation of government programmes. He gave an example of the licensing\r\nprocess of investors in Uganda which takes 32 days, yet countries line Rwanda\r\nand Canada does so in just two days.
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He however, said\r\nhe was happy that the situation in the country today is good. He said the poor\r\nperformance of the dollar against the shilling is a result of over-reliance on\r\nimported goods and exportation of raw materials.
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Hon. Justice\r\nKatureebe and Hon. Justice Kavuma were appointed CJ and DCJ on 5 March 2015 and\r\nthey were confirmed in the positions by the Appointments Committee of\r\nParliament on 18 March 2015.
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Hon. Justice\r\nKatureebe, a member of the Supreme Court, has replaced Hon. Justice Benjamin\r\nOdoki, who retired in March 2013, whereas Hon. Justice Kavuma replaces Hon.\r\nLady Justice Alice Mpagi-Bahigeine who retired in October 2012.
Posted 20th, March 2015
