Deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma, who has two months left to retire from his job, has named himself among a panel of five judges who will decide whether it is constitutional for a single Constitutional court judge to issue interim orders.
During the hearing of the case that starts on July 13, 2017, Justice Kavuma will be assisted by Richard Buteera, Solomy Balungi Bossa, Hellen Obura and Alfonse Owiny- Dollo.
The matter was referred to the court by Justice Remmy Kasule after it was raised in two separate interim applications the judge was handling. One of them involves Nakawa MP Michael Kabaziguruka who is seeking to stay his trial in the General Court Martial pending determination of his main petition against the army court trial’s jurisdiction over him.
When the case came up before Justice Kasule, he was informed by State Attorney George Kallemera that he couldn’t proceed as a single judge of the Constitutional court in light of the fact that earlier this year, Justices Kenneth Kakuru, Frederick Egonda Ntende and Elizabeth Musoke ruled that such applications should be heard by a panel of five justices.
Though Kakuru, Egonda Ntende and Musoke held as such, Justice Kasule said there are many confusing precedents. He cited the 2010 case, George Owor versus the Attorney General, in which three other judges held differently. They ruled that a single judge or a panel of three could determine an interim application arising from a Constitutional court petition.
To clear the ambiguity, Justice Kasule decided to refer the matter to five justices. The issue to be resolved by the Constitutional court, according to Justice Kasule, is “whether or not, given Article 137(1) and (2) of the Constitution, sections 9, 10 and 12 of the Judicature Act, cap 13, and other relevant subsidiary legislations, a panel of a single justice and/or a panel of three justices of appeal has jurisdiction to constitute itself, entertain and determine a constitutional application arising out of a constitutional petition or reference, or is such jurisdiction exclusively vested in the court of the justices of appeal when fully constituted with a panel of five justices of appeal sitting as the constitutional court.”
The inclusion of Kavuma on the panel will raise eyebrows because ever since he took over leadership of the court of Appeal/ Constitutional Court in 2013, he has issued many controversial interim orders as a single judge himself.
This, according to well-placed sources in the judiciary, has soiled the court’s image and angered some of its judges. Early this year, Justice Kavuma issued an interim order stopping parliament or any individual from investigating a Shs 6bn bonus given to 42 government officials who played a role in resolving the oil dispute between Uganda and Heritage Oil and Tullow Oil over the capital gains tax.
The order was later dubbed as “stupid” by Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, who also threatened to freeze parliamentary activities if it was not vacated.
In 2016, Justice Kavuma issued another interim order banning “Defiance” campaign activities orchestrated by the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and its former leader Dr Kizza Besigye.
The activities included weekly prayers and countrywide demonstrations protesting what the political party activists claimed was rigging in the February 18, 2016 elections.
