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Four challenge Buteera appointment as deputy CJ
Deputy Chief Justice Richard Butera (right) being sworn in at State House Entebbe on September 8, 2020. PHOTO / PPU
A group of concerned citizens has asked High Court in Kampala to order Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera to immediately vacate his office, arguing that the process of his appointment was tainted with irregularities, hence unconstitutional.
The petitioners contend that President Museveni usurped the powers of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and appointed Justice Buteera as Deputy Chief Justice and yet there was no such a vacancy at the time.
Justice Buteera’s appointment is being challenged by a group of four concerned citizens and a human rights watchdog, Citizen Alert Foundation.
The concerned citizens are Mr Enoch Barigye Byaruhanga, Mr Deo Okwaput, Mr Cleofus Atango Mallisa and Ms Lydia Aanyu.
“A declaration that the President in appointing Justice Buteera, a candidate that had been recommended to him for appointment as Chief Justice was ultra vires his mandate wherein, he usurped the powers of the JSC by declaring a vacancy to himself, initiating the recruitment process and acted without advise of the commission,” the petitioners state in their November 19, 2020 suit.
Adding: “A declaration that at the material time when the President appointed Justice Buteera, there was no vacancy as the position of the deputy Chief Justice, was substantially filled by Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo in as far he had not resigned, assumed or accepted the office of Chief Justice.”
The petitioners aver that the decision by President Museveni in handpicking candidates to fill the vacancy of the Deputy Chief Justice without the regard to due process, undermines the independency of the Judiciary and the rule of law.
They further state that the unconstitutional appointment of Justice Buteera disenfranchised many qualified lawyers and judicial officers from competing for the said job, thus discriminated since the President acted to ring- fence the said position in favour of one person without regard to merit.
The petitioners fault Justice Buteera for having acted unprofessionally when he accepted an illegal appointment to an office in the judicial service for which he was never an applicant, interviewed or recommended and ought to be removed and barred from contesting for the same job in the subsequent interviews.
They also fault the JSC and the Parliamentary Commission for allegedly failing in their mandate to prevail over President Museveni’s illegal appointment of justice Buteera as Deputy Chief Justice.
Article 142 of the Constitution provides that the Deputy Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President, acting on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission and with the approval of Parliament.
But the petitioners claim that this constitutional provision was overlocked as there was advice from the JSC to the President to appoint Justice Buteera as Deputy Chief Justice as there was no vacancy at the time.
The case comes months after city lawyer, Hassan Male Mabirizi had petitioned the East African Court of Justice in Arusha, Tanzania over the same issue.
The government has since in its reply to Mabirizi’s law suit, explained that President Museveni solely used his prerogative of powers to appoint Justice Buteera without sitting for interviews and approval of the Judicial Service Commission.
“Following the position of the Deputy Chief Justice falling vacant, as a result of the appointment of Hon. Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo as Chief Justice of Uganda, H.E the President in exercise of his power, provided under Articles 142 and 147, appointed Richard Buteera, then a justice of the Supreme Court, as Deputy Chief Justice,” the Attorney General stated in defense of Buteera’s appointment.
Justice Buteera was appointed to the said position in August last year, replacing then deputy Chief Justice, Owiny-Dollo, who had been elevated to the position of Chief Justice, following the retirement of Justice Bart Katureebe.
