Judiciary to Hire Acting Justices

A delegation from the Parliament of Zimbabwe led by their Speaker visiting the Chief Justice

The Judiciary has started the process of recruiting acting justices of the Supreme Court to fill the vacant posts, the Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe, has revealed. The process started with asking cabinet for the authority to allow hiring of justices to handle pending cases.

The Supreme Court needs 11 justices including the Chief Justice but currently has eight. The Court of Appeal/ Constitutional Court needs more nine, and the High Court needs an additional 15 justices.Hon. Justice Katureebe said four out of the eight Supreme Court justices will be unable to constitute quorum to hear and determine cases following expiry of two year contract for those in acting capacity. They include Ag. Hon. Justices: John W. N Tsekooko, Galdino. M. Okello and the former Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Benjamin Odoki.

The CJ, who made the revelation while meeting a delegation of legislators from Zimbabwe in Kampala, said once approved, the Judiciary would ask the appointing authority to implement the initiative.The Speaker of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe, Hon. Jacob Francis Mudenda, led the delegation to Kampala on a bilateral benchmarking visit.

Among other things discussed was the relationship between the legislature and the Judiciary.
The legislators asked how the arms of the state are implementing the doctrine of separation of power and if courts of law could interfere with the work of Parliament.Hon. Justice Katureebe said: "Under the law, any person can challenge the decision of any government entity including Parliament if it is unconstitutional.”

With the 2016 general elections a stone’s throw away, the Zimbabwean legislators wanted to know how Uganda handles electoral petitions.

"Immediately after the elections, a team of judges is set aside to deal with election petitions and this team ensures that cases are disposed of within the period of six months…,” Hon. Justice Katureebe, adding that a presidential election petition is handled by the Supreme Court , and there are no appeals.

Hon. Mudenda said in Zimbabwe, there are specialised election courts which handle electoral related petitions.

The legislators wanted to come up with best practices on how to foster the relationship between the Judiciary and Parliament. "We want to know how the sub-judice rule is applied by the courts and whether the courts have determined cases against the executive.”

The CJ pointed out the recent case of former chief justice where the constitutional court ruled against the decision of the president to reappoint former chief justice Benjamin Odoki.