Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe holding the instruments the Chief Justice
The\r\nnewly appointed Chief Justice, Hon. Bart M. Katureebe on April 9 officially\r\ntook the Judiciary’s high office and started on his journey to steer the\r\ninstitution that ran without substantive for two years.
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His\r\njourney commenced with a two-hour ceremony in which the former Chief Justice,\r\nHon. Dr. Justice Benjamin Odoki handing over the office and instruments of\r\npower to the new Chief Justice.
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Present\r\nat the handover, among others were the Minister of Justice and Constitutional\r\nAffairs, Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire; the Attorney General, Fredrick Ruhindi,\r\nHead of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, John Mitala. Also present were\r\nSupreme Court Justices: Hon. Jotham Tumwesigye, Christine Kitumba, Dr. Esther\r\nKisaakye and Galdino Okello, Wilson Tsekooko; High Court Judges, Rugadya\r\nAtwooki and Jane Alividza; Secretary to the Judiciary, Dorcas W. Okalany and\r\nthe Chief Registrar, Paul Gadenya, among others.
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Hon.\r\nJustice Odoki thanked President Museveni for appointing Justice Katureebe whom\r\nhe said was "the right successor”.
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He\r\nurged the new CJ to interact with the Executive arm of the State, saying the\r\nindependence of the Judiciary was very sensitive, and that the Judiciary would\r\nremain "irrelevant” if it does not engage the other arms of government.
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"One\r\nof the difficult areas is maintaining the independence of the Judiciary which\r\nis the fundamental pillar in constitutional doctrine and administration of\r\njustice. The Chief Justice must remain the face of Judiciary, but he must\r\nengage in constructive relationship with other organs of the government,” he\r\nsaid.
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"There\r\nis no way you are going to succeed here if you keep yourself in office and not\r\nengage with other organs of government. If you are going to seek more funds, you\r\nmust not shy in asking.”
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Hon.\r\nJustice Katureebe concurred with his predecessor on interaction with other\r\ngovernment arms, saying: "I cannot make it without the efforts of the other\r\norgans of the government. I am now going to dig up the contacts of some members\r\nof the Legislature and Executive and I will also be knocking at their doors for\r\nhelp,” he said.
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Minister\r\nOtafiire promised to push for amendments in the law to rise the retirement age\r\nof Judges from 70 to 75 for Justices of the appellate courts and from 65 to 70\r\nfor High Court Judges. He also recognized the need to give the Judiciary the\r\nright tools to for proper administration of justice in this country.
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Hon.\r\nJustice Odoki, 72, was Uganda’s Chief Justice for over 12 years, and retired in\r\nMarch 2013, leaving then Ag. Deputy Chief Justice, Steven Kavuma, to take on\r\nextra duties as caretaker for the office of the chief justice.
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President\r\nMuseveni appointed both Hon. Justices Katureebe and Kavuma in the positions of\r\nChief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice on 5 March 2015, respectively. They were\r\nboth approved by Parliament and sworn-in on 20 March 2015 at State House\r\nEntebbe.
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Posted 10th, April 2015
