The ambitious Justice  Stella Arach-Amoko

 While at the Supreme Court, she had twice given a shot at the vacancy of the Deputy Chief Justice but she wasn’t successful.  Justice Steven Kavuma took the Job in 2015 and in 2017, she was edged out by Justice Owiny-Dollo.  The expectations of Justice Arach- Amoko becoming one of the leaders weren’t that far-fetched.

She had risen from being a State Attorney to become a judge of the High Court and Court of Appeal as well as the Deputy  Principal Judge of the  East African Court of Justice (EACJ) with no serious scandal attached to her name.  

 “There are a few non-corrupt justices I know. Many have died and she was among the few who weren’t corrupt,” said retired Supreme Court Judge George Wilson Kanyeihamba who supervised Arach-Amoko when he was the Attorney General in the late 80s.

Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, in a communication announcing Justice Arach- Amoko’s death, said: “The Judiciary has lost an extraordinary jurist who has been a champion of justice.”
If there was some anticipation that Justice Arach – Amoko would lead the Judiciary, then there were a lot of expectations from her judgments the moment she arrived at the Supreme Court 10 years ago. 

At the time,   justices Benjamin Odoki, John Wilson Nattubu Tsekooko, Galdino Okello, and Christine Kitumba were about to hang up their wigs and the belief was that Justice Arach – Amoko could be a fresh of breath air that the Supreme Court needed.

“Her records from the lower courts were impeccable. That’s why many lawyers expected a lot from her in terms of expanding   Uganda’s jurisprudence,” constitutional lawyer Peter Walubiri said. 
In 1997, she was appointed a High Court judge,   having been tapped from the Attorney General’s Chambers where she rose to the position of Commissioner of Civil Litigation. 
 
Justice Arach-Amoko made her mark while at the Commercial Division where she was deputy head and later head. It was during Arach-Amoko’s tenure as the head of the Commercial Court that alternative dispute resolution (ADR) strategies such as mediation and arbitration were introduced.   
But what had endeared Justice Arach- Amoko to many within the political opposition were her judgments in parliamentary petitions. 
 
“She was a soft-spoken, level-headed, and venerable jurist or sage who endeavoured to uphold the judicial oath under very challenging circumstances,” Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago said.

It’s clear to see why Mr Lukwago would hold Justice Arach- Amoko in high esteem.  In the 2006 General Election, Mr Lukwago, then of DP, defeated NRM’s Edward Francis Babu to the Kampala Central MP slot by a difference of 103 votes.  Since the difference was thin, Capt Babu went to the High Court, challenging Mr Lukwago’s victory.

The thrust of Capt Babu’s case was that the Electoral Commission (EC) had invalidated votes that would have been his and had also failed to conduct and supervise the election in accordance with the Parliamentary Elections  Act.   
But Justice Arach – Amoko held that Capt Babu’s agents, by signing the Declaration of Result Forms (DRF), confirmed the truth of what was contained therein.  

“They are confirming to their principle that this is the correct result of what transpired at the polling station.  The candidate in particular is, therefore, stopped from challenging the contents of the form because he is the appointing authority of the agent,”  she ruled.
In 2010,  Justice  Arach–Amoko was promoted to the Court of Appeal just in time to handle parliamentary electoral appeals emanating from the 2011 General Election. 

One of the appeals she handled together with justices   Steven Kavuma and Remmy Kasule was that from Butambala County that pitted NRM’s Faisal Kikulukunyu against DP’s Muhammad  Muwanga Kivumbi. 
    
At the High Court, Justice Vincent Kibuuka  Musoke, who has since passed on, had annulled the victory of NRM’s Faisal Kikulukunyu on grounds that he had bribed voters.
 On appeal, justices Arach-Amoko Kasule agreed with the High Court that indeed Mr Kikulukunyu’s victory was secured through bribery and ordered for a by-election that led to Mr Muwanga’s victory.
Next to fall was NRM’s Muyanja Mbabaali who was tussling it out with then DP Secretary General Mathias Nsubuga.

Justice Owinyi- Dollo sitting in Masaka High Court had cancelled Mr Mbabaali’s victory on grounds that he had phony academic papers.  Mr Mbabaali took the battle to the Court of Appeal where a panel that had justices Constance Byamugisha,  Augustine Nshimye, and Arach -  Amoko ruled in the case.  

  “Given that the academic documents whose authenticity and integrity were being questioned belonged to the appellant [ Kikulukunyu] and given that it is the same academic documents that the appellant submitted to the Electoral Commission for his nomination and election, then within the terms of Section  106 of the Evidence Act and the judgment of Katureebe, JSC, in Abdul Balingirira Nakendo vs Patrick Mwondha, it was his burden to prove that the documents that were being questioned were actually authentic, which burden he miserably failed and/or ignored to discharge,” Justice Arach- Amoko wrote in the lead judgement, ordering for the by-election in which Nsubuga, who has since passed on, emerged victor.

With Arach- Amoko’s promotion to the Supreme Court in 2013, she joined five other justices in throwing out a Constitutional Court judgement that kicked the so-called NRM rebel MPs out of Parliament on account of indiscipline and going against party positions.
The embattled MPs were Mr Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga), Mr Muhammad Nsereko (Kampala Central), Mr Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East), and Mr Barnabas Tinkasiimire (Buyaga West).   

Justice Arach- Amoko also agreed with eight other justices to toss out Mr John Amama Mbabazi’s presidential petition challenging President Museveni’s 2016 victory, citing lack of evidence to prove the allegations contained in the petition. 

And in 2019, she was among the four justices  that upheld editing out of the presidential age limit (which had been capped at 75) from the Constitution.   Opposition groups had challenged the constitutionality of the move saying, inter-alia,  that it went against the basic structure of the constitution.

“The issue of the basic structure is controversial; some say it exists, others say it doesn’t,” Justice Arach -Amoko, 69, said when this writer asked her about her position on the basic structure of Uganda’s Constitution.

TENTATIVE BURIAL PLAN
1. Today at 10am, there will be requiem Mass at Our lady of Africa Mbuya, followed by a vigil at her home in Mbuya, Kinawataka. 

2. Tuesday in the morning, there will be a special court sitting in her honour and at 2pm, there will be a special parliamentary sitting where the body will lie in state

3. Wednesday, 2pm, there will be a special sitting for West Nile joint district councils. At 6pm, body will spend the night in Nebbi Catholic Church

4. Thursday at 10 am, there will be requiem Mass at Nebbi Catholic Church. 

5. Friday at 10am, there will be a funeral Mass at Nebbi Catholic Church grounds. Thereafter, burial at home in Jukia Hill ward, Juba Village.