A delegation from the Parliament of Zimbabwe led by their Speaker visiting the Chief Justice
The Judiciary has started the process of recruiting acting justices of the\r\nSupreme Court to fill the vacant posts, the Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe,\r\nhas revealed.
The process started with asking\r\ncabinet for the authority to allow hiring of justices to handle pending cases.
\r\n\r\n
The Supreme Court needs 11 justices\r\nincluding the Chief Justice but currently has eight. The Court of Appeal/\r\nConstitutional Court needs more nine, and the High Court needs an additional 15\r\njustices.
Hon. Justice Katureebe said four out\r\nof the eight Supreme Court justices will be unable to constitute quorum to hear\r\nand determine cases following expiry of two year contract for those in acting\r\ncapacity. They include Ag. Hon. Justices: John W. N Tsekooko, Galdino. M.\r\nOkello and the former Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Benjamin Odoki.
The CJ, who made the revelation while\r\nmeeting a delegation of legislators from Zimbabwe in Kampala, said once\r\napproved, the Judiciary would ask the appointing authority to implement the\r\ninitiative.
\r\nThe Speaker of the National Assembly\r\nof Zimbabwe, Hon. Jacob Francis Mudenda, led the delegation to Kampala on a bilateral\r\nbenchmarking visit.
\r\n\r\n
Among other things\r\ndiscussed was the relationship between\r\nthe legislature and the Judiciary.
\r\nThe legislators asked how the arms of the state are implementing the doctrine\r\nof separation of power and if courts of law could interfere with the work of\r\nParliament.
Hon. Justice Katureebe said: "Under\r\nthe law, any person can challenge the decision of any government entity\r\nincluding Parliament if it is unconstitutional.”
With the 2016 general elections a\r\nstone’s throw away, the Zimbabwean legislators wanted to know how Uganda\r\nhandles electoral petitions.
\r\n\r\n
"Immediately after the elections, a\r\nteam of judges is set aside to deal with election petitions and this team\r\nensures that cases are disposed of within the period of six months…,” Hon. Justice\r\nKatureebe, adding that a presidential election petition is handled by the Supreme\r\nCourt , and there are no appeals.
\r\n\r\n
Hon. Mudenda said in Zimbabwe, there\r\nare specialised election courts which handle electoral related petitions.
\r\n\r\n
The legislators wanted to come up with\r\nbest practices on how to foster the relationship between the Judiciary and\r\nParliament.
\r\n"We want to know how the sub-judice\r\nrule is applied by the courts and whether the courts have determined cases\r\nagainst the executive.”
\r\n\r\n
The CJ pointed out the recent case of\r\nformer chief justice where the constitutional court ruled against\r\nthe decision of the president to reappoint former chief justice Benjamin Odoki.
\r\n\r\n
Posted 29th, June 2015
