Prime
Odoki reappointment illegal, says Ogoola
Justice James Ogoola (R) with commissioner Henry Kyemba. PHOTO/GEOFFREY SSERUYANGE.
What you need to know:
Legal voice. Mr Ogoola adds his views on the growing chorus of voices that have questioned Mr Odoki’s re-entry.
President Museveni went against the advice of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in nominating Mr Benjamin Odoki for re-appointment as Chief Justice, MPs learnt yesterday.
Commission chairman James Ogoola who had led a JSC team into the meeting with the House Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs reportedly told the committee that the proposed re-appointment of Mr Odoki is unconstitutional because he is above the 70-year constitutional age limit for holders of the Chief Justice position.
The JSC’s reported views are the latest in a growing chorus of voices that have questioned Mr Odoki’s re-entry.
Already, MPs, civil society activists, opposition politicians, academics and the Uganda Law Society have all denounced and termed the attempt to have the former chief justice returned as both illegal and unconstitutional.
Sources who attended the meeting said Mr Ogoola made the statements after MPs demanded to know whether the JSC endorsed the re-appointment of Mr Odoki.
“The JSC team told us that they did their job and advised the President and that the Judiciary never recommended his (Odoki’s) re-appointment. They said they only learnt about his appointment from the papers and they have never got a formal communication from President Museveni regarding his appointment,” said the source, who asked not to be named since this was a privileged hearing.
Mr Ogoola, who was himself appointed to chair the JSC after he retired as principal judge, is reported to have said that the commission presented three names to Mr Museveni from which to choose, in line with the Constitution.
The JSC chairman had asked the MPs to allow the meeting to be conducted in camera so as to enable a free exchange between committee members and the commission. He pleaded that commissioners Grace Oburu, Henry Kyemba, JSC permanent secretary Kagole Kivumbi and himself could only speak freely in the absence of journalists.
Going forward, sources in the committee told the Daily Monitor yesterday that the committee took a decision not to disclose whatever the JSC commissioners said for fear of portraying a picture that the commission clashed with the President.
Mr Ogoola, according to the sources, reportedly said they did their job of advising the President when they proposed three names from which to choose. The Constitution gives the JSC the prerogative to nominate names for likely appointment for the Chief Justice and recommend to the President.
Youth MP for western, Gerald Karuhanga, who is challenging Odoki’s re-appointment in the Constitutional Court was yesterday asked to leave the JSC meeting. But he also told the Daily Monitor later that the commission never advised President Museveni to re-appoint Odoki. “You must have read the advertisements for a CJ in the newspapers. That has never happened in the history of this country until last year because we were looking for quality,” he said.
