Deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma is a man who has attracted controversy throughout his time at the Judiciary. From issuing “stupid” orders to famously trying to revise his age so as to delay retirement, he will leave Ugandans with much to talk about when he exits office in September after clocking 70 years. But even as he enters the final weeks of tenure, controversy seems to have struck up a love relationship with the office he will soon be leaving.
Matooke Republic can reveal that the search for Justice Kavuma’s replacement is not all smooth sailing after one of the judges who wanted to compete for the vacant position appears to have been sidelined by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). The JSC is the body that is tasked with interviewing candidates for offices of judge, including Chief Justice, the deputy as well as judges of the Supreme, Constitutional and Appeal courts.
A letter we have seen indicates Justice Solomy Bossa, a judge of the Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court wrote to the JSC on July 20 to complain that she had been “unfairly” treated because she wasn’t granted an opportunity to appear before the JSC and interview as one of Kavuma’s replacements even though the period for conducting interviews had not lapsed.
Judge Bossa’s protest
According to Justice Bossa, the interview dates were set while she was away on official travel, with JSC’s schedule saying candidates would appear before the interview panel between June 18 and 27. Those in the race for the post included: Judge Bossa, Irene Mulyagonja, Lilian Tibatemwa, Egonda Ntende, Owiny Dollo, Hellen Obura, Stella Arach and Esther Kisaakye.
While Justice Bossa was scheduled to appear on June 19, she was still away in the US at the time and as such wrote to request an extension to July. This was declined by JSC, prompting her to cut her trip short and return to Uganda on June 25. It is then, according to her protest letter, that she discovered that her desire to be interviewed was not going to go as smoothly as she had expected.
Despite the JSC chairperson Justice Benjamin Kabiito committing to have her interviewed, she writes in the letter how the same judge turned around, and informed her “there were other stakeholders in the process” and that the interview phase was over, even if this was happened on June 27, 2017 which was supposed to be the final day of the vetting exercise.
“This decision effectively barred me from contesting for the vacant posts of the Deputy Chief Justice and Justice of the Supreme Court, for which I had been nominated, not by one but several bodies in the legal fraternity,” Justice Bossa’s letter reads in part. One of the bodies that nominated her, Matooke Republic has established, was the Uganda Law Society.
“The JSC decision to exclude me was an unusual step given that even Parliament accommodates those who may miss its scheduled vetting meetings, for various reasons,” she added.
JSC tight-lipped
When we contacted JSC chairperson Justice Kabiito for an explanation he said: “I am busy now I am up country. Call me next week.” When our reporter pointed out the fact that we had a deadline he simply replied: “Respect my private time,” before hanging up.
Meanwhile JSC’s secretary Dr Rose Nassali Lukwago, to whom the letter was addressed, acknowledged receipt of the complaint but when queried on what the Commission was planning to do about it or how it had responded, she replied: “Ask your source to trace my response”.
The controversy surrounding the selection of the new Deputy Chief Justice will possibly renew calls for a more transparent recruitment process for judicial officers. In the past, various players in the justice and legal sectors have promoted the idea of vetting judges in the open, and possibly on live television, as is the case in neighbouring Kenya.
Who is Justice Bossa
Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa is a judge with more than 27 years of legal and judicial work experience at national, regional and international level. She has previously served as a judge of the High Court, and is currently a judge of the Constitutional Court and Court of Appeal. She was elected judge of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in June 2014 for a term of six years. Previously she served as judge of the East African Court of Justice (2001-2006) as well as United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda between 2003 and 2013.