But to Ssentumbwe, this kind of conduct by Ssekaana raises serious concerns about judicial propriety and violates Articles 2 [Supremacy of Constitution], 126(1) [Exercise of judicial power], and 128(2) [Non-interference in judicial processes] of the Constitution.
According to the ULS, the Chief Justice’s demands were a clear attempt to “weaponize the judiciary” to harass, intimidate, and silence Senior Counsel Isaac Ssemakadde, the head of the bar.
The Chief Justice reflected on the Judiciary's progress, citing the increase in Magistrates from 100 when he was appointed to the highest office in the Judiciary in August 2020 to over 586 now, thanks to the objectives set in the Judiciary Strategic Plan Five.
The Small Claims Procedure, rolled out to 203 courts, resulted in the completion of 23,567 cases and the recovery of claims valued at 17,993,850,733 billion shillings.
In his remarks , Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo who is the patron of UJOA spoke tough saying he is ready to forgive any judicial officer for anything but not one who engages him/herself in what he described as the Cancerous vice of corruption.
Museveni said the African Traditional way of resolving conflicts is cheaper, and timely and leaves warring parties contented as opposed to prolonged processes.
Addressing the 20th Annual Conference of the East African Magistrates' and Judges' Association (EAMJA) at the Commonwealth Resort in Munyonyo Kampala Tuesday, President Museveni highlighted common challenges faced by regional judiciaries, including corruption, delayed judgments, prolonged adjournments, high litigation costs, and foreign language rulings that hinder accessibility for ordinary citizens.
The report shows that overall, the courts closed with a pending caseload of 156,349 cases, of which 42,960 were backlogged. A case is considered backlog after more than two years in the court system without being concluded.
While addressing mourners at the reburial of Brig. Gen Pierino Okoya in Gulu District on Friday, Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo commended the president for owning up to the mistakes made during his regime.
According to the letter, Kisaakye says that Museveni appointed her to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court on October 12th 2009 and by the time she wrote this letter, she had served in the Supreme Court for 13 years and ten months.
“Justice Kisaakye has now become a victim of the bullshit protocol. When they partook in sentencing Ivan Sebaduka and violating his rights no one spoke up, now when it’s a Supreme Court Judge suddenly it gathers all this attention. As Ugandans our Supreme Court /courts lost value a long time ago,” said Atabua.
The report shows between May 12th and July 12th, 2022 the Supreme Court conducted a pretrial hearing of 89 criminal appeals, and also in the same month it heard one civil matter.
The Judiciary Public Relations Officer Jamson Karemani, says that the process is being handled by the Principal Judge Dr. Flavian Zeija together with the Registrar of the High Court.
Speaking at the launch Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo faulted the Criminal Investigations Directorate of the police and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for stalling disposal of cases through endless investigations and adjournments respectively.
Quoting the book of Deuteronomy Chapter 16 verses 18 to 20, Owiny-Dollo said that the Lord God commands the judicial officers not to distort justice by accepting bribes.
Chief Justice Owiny-Dollo further said that in the meantime the judicial officers who have been occupying the building will be working from home until further notice.
