There is no rule or law that forbids the deputy chief justice from becoming chief justice if he or she is of the right age. Nevertheless, there has been an unwritten rule or trend that once a person deputizes the chief justice, then he or she cannot go on to become the CJ. But Owiny-Dollo, 64, is seeking to break that barrier.
Owiny-Dollo isn’t a lone ranger in the race. Insider judicial sources have an intriguing list of Supreme court candidates. It includes justices; Richard Buteera, Mary Stella Arach-Amoko, Esther Kisaakye Kitimbo and current Bugweri MP Abdu Katuntu who has publicly declared he is retiring from elective politics.
Perhaps to catch the eye of the appointing authority, Buteera, Arach–Amoko and Kisaakye made an appearance at State House Entebbe on January 14, 2020 to witness the installation of the new principal judge Justice Flavian Zeija.
Besides Katuntu, a practicing lawyer who has not been on the bench, Justice Owiny-Dollo is the most junior of the candidates. His competitors are at the Supreme court, the highest court in the land, while Owiny-Dollo is at the Court of Appeal.
Article 143 of the Constitution, which lays down the credentials for appointment of judicial officers, asserts that a person qualifies to become chief justice, if he or she has served as a justice of the Supreme court of Uganda or in a court with similar jurisdiction.
The Constitution also says that a person who has practiced as an advocate for a period not less than twenty years before a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, qualifies for the job. This gives experienced lawyers such as Katuntu a chance to snap up the top judicial job.
Once Katureebe walks off his job, Justice Kisaakye will be the most senior judge at the Supreme court just like Katureebe was when former Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki retired in 2013. Kisaakye has been at the court since 2009. She was picked from Makerere University where she lectured Law.
She has since been labeled “a dissenting judge” because she has dissented in most judgments. Once Kavuma retired in September, 2017, Kisaakye wanted the job but she didn’t make the final Judicial Service Commission list dispatched to President Museveni for approval.
Before joining the Court of Appeal in 2013, Buteera, 65, had been the director of public prosecutions (DPP) from 1995. As DPP, he came under fire for what the opposition called sanctioning trumped-up charges of rape and treason against President Museveni’s political opponents such as Dr Kizza Besigye.
Though he has since forged a judicial career that has seen him elevated to the Supreme court, his curriculum vitae shows he started out in 1981 as a magistrate and rose through the ranks to become chief registrar of courts of judicature. But legal commentators insist that his tenure as DPP left a permanent blemish on his career.
For Arach-Amoko, she has tried twice and failed to fill the vacancy of deputy chief justice. In 2015, she was beaten to the job by Kavuma and recently edged out by Owiny-Dollo. Arach-Amoko has seen it all. She was at the High court from 1997 to 2010 – then joined the Court of Appeal until 2013 and later joined the Supreme court to date. Though she has climbed the judicial ladder purely on merit, she is one of the most quiet and discreet judges. Can she step out of the shadows and become the face of the judiciary?
Owiny- Dollo has been second in command of the judiciary for three years and already looms as the favorite to snap up the top job. In becoming the deputy chief justice, Owiny-Dollo saw off competition from his seniors; Justice Frederick Egonda-Ntende, a former chief justice of Seychelles, who is now at the Court of Appeal and Professor Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza, a Supreme court judge.
Sources within the Court of Appeal have said Owiny-Dollo is going to pitch for the job by showing how he has transformed the Court of Appeal which he heads by virtue of being deputy chief justice. On succeeding Kavuma, it was an open secret that Owiny-Dollo was taking over a court with a badly battered image. The public had lost trust in the court and the Appeals court judges had been split into “pro-Kavuma” and “anti-Kavuma factions.”
Owiny-Dollo, according to sources familiar with his office, claims he is the best candidate because he has managed to mend the rifts at the court through delegating powers. He has reactivated committees.
The Finance committee is headed by Justice Cheborion Barishaki, Case Management Committee is headed by Justice Stephen Musota and the Registrar and Library Committee is superintended by Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire. In the fall of 2017, when he took over the reins of the Court of Appeal, sources say Owiny-Dollo arranged a meeting with fellow judges and launched a charm offensive.
“I wouldn’t want to be the boss but as the head of the court, I want to be known as first among equals. Owiny-Dollo reportedly told his fellow judges. “Whatever happens in the Court of Appeal, for the wrong reasons I would always take responsibility even when I’m non-culpable.”
He continued: “For all the good things, this court will take credit. I don’t seek to take personal credit; I would love this court to take credit.”
If he is interviewed for the job, Owiny-Dollo plans to showcase how he will tackle issues of underfunding and understaffing that have crippled the judiciary since independence.
Those who know Owiny-Dollo say he has always wondered why every new district easily gets a resident district commissioner (RDC) but can’t get a magistrate. “The country can do without an RDC,” Owiny-Dollo says according to sources, “But we can’t do without justice.”
Niceties aside, people familiar with the process of appointing a chief justice say the successful candidate is normally a person who can strike a balance between defending the independence of the judiciary without antagonizing the executive.
“Those who are interested in being chief justice have to show that they are flexible,” a source familiar with the vetting process, “One with a suicide bomber mentality can’t go through.”
dkiyonga@gmail.com