Prime
Ugandan judge elected to African Court
Justice Duncan Gaswaga (R) is ushered by security officials to Bushenyi Magistrate’s Court on March 30, 2015. PHOTO | ZADOCK AMANYISA
What you need to know:
- Justice Gaswaga is also one of the four judges who presided over the lengthy Thomas Kwoyelo case at the International Crimes Division of the High Court sitting in Gulu. The case is currently awaiting judgment scheduled for next month.
High Court Judge Duncan Gaswaga has been elected to serve a six-year term on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights by the Executive Council of the African Union.
Judge Gaswaga was elected on Friday with the support of 46 member states in Accra during the 45th session of the African Union Executive Council of Ministers. He replaces Justice Ben Kioko from Kenya, who retired after two terms of six years each (2012-2018 and 2018-2024).
Also elected for a second six-year term were Justice Blaise Tchikaya (Congo) and Justice Stella Anukam (Nigeria). Both justices were initially appointed to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in July 2018 for their first six-year term.
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights consists of eleven judges, nationals of African Union member states, elected in their personal capacities. The Court commenced operations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in November 2006 and relocated to its current seat in Arusha, Tanzania in August 2007.
Who is Justice Duncan Gaswaga?
Before his appointment, Justice Duncan Gaswaga served as the resident Judge of the Lira High Court Circuit.
In August 2016, he was appointed Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption Commission in Seychelles, having previously served in its Judiciary as a magistrate and later as a Supreme Court Judge from 2002 to 2013.
The decision to establish the Anti-Corruption Commission was announced by President James Michel during his State of the Nation Address in February 2016. The Commission was empowered to investigate, detect, and prevent corrupt practices, as well as receive complaints and conduct investigations into alleged corruption in government departments and institutions receiving government funding and donations.
In 2006, Justice Gaswaga, then a magistrate, was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Seychelles. He returned to Uganda in 2013 as a Judge of the High Court, having begun his judicial career in 1999 as a Magistrate Grade I. Prior to that, he practiced law as an advocate in Kampala.
After the revival of the East African Community, he was elected as the first General Secretary of the East African Magistrates and Judges Association for Kenyan, Tanzanian, and Ugandan judges.
Justice Gaswaga is also one of the four judges who presided over the lengthy Thomas Kwoyelo case at the International Crimes Division of the High Court sitting in Gulu. The case is currently awaiting judgment scheduled for next month.
The 53-year-old holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Dar es Salaam, and has received several certificates and diplomas in law from universities in Uganda, Denmark, and South Africa.
