Parliament To Vet Three Justices Appointed To The Supreme Court

Parliament will soon vet three justices recently appointed to the Supreme Court and another to the Court of Appeal.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni exercised his constitutional powers under Article 142 (i) and appointed three justices to the Supreme Court and another to the Court of Appeal.

All three judges including Christopher Madrama, Elizabeth Musoke and Stephen Musota have been serving as justices of the Court of Appeal.

Similarly, the President appointed NRM Director Legal Affairs, Oscar Kihiika to the Court of Appeal.

Their promotion is included in a statement issued by the State House dated October, 31, 2022.

It reads in part: “In exercise of powers vested in the president by Article 142(i) of the Constitution, I have acting on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission appointed justices of the Supreme Court,” the instrument dated October, 31 reads in part.

The Supreme Court of Uganda is the highest judicial organ in Uganda. It derives its powers from Article 130 of the 1995 Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court with original jurisdiction in only one type of case: a presidential election petition.

The Supreme Court is headed by the Chief Justice Owiny Dollo and has ten other justices.

The quorum required for a court decision varies depending on the type of case under consideration. When hearing a constitutional appeal, the required quorum is seven justices. In a criminal or a civil appeal, only five justices are required for a quorum.

In the absence of the chief justice, the most senior member of the court presides. The court sits eight sessions a year with a break of two weeks between sessions to conduct research and write judgments. It has the power to uphold, reverse, substitute its judgment, or order a new trial when hearing an appeal from a lower court.

Among the controversial cases heard by the Supreme Court was in 2008 when the validity of the death penalty was contested.

The case was heard on appeal from the constitutional court. The main appellant was Susan Kigula who has since lost her appeal against her own death sentence for murdering her husband.

Other cases include four of the last five presidential election petitions in which the court ruled 3:2 in 2001, 4:3 in 2006, 5:4 in 2011, and 9:0 in 2016 in favor of President Yoweri Museveni’s re-election.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal of Uganda (also constituted as the Constitutional Court of Uganda) is the second-highest judicial organ in Uganda.

It derives its powers from Article 134 of the 1995 Constitution. It is an appellate court when hearing cases appealed from the High Court of Uganda.

However, it has original jurisdiction when adjudicating matters relating to the constitutionality of matters before it. All judgments by the Court of Appeal are theoretically appealable to the Supreme Court of Uganda, if the Supreme Court decides to hear the appeal.

The Court of Appeal of Uganda is headed by the deputy Chief Justice, Richard Buteera and has fourteen other justices.

The quorum required for a court decision varies depending on the matters under consideration.

When sitting as an appellate court in a civil or criminal matter, the required quorum is an odd number of justices, not less than three in number.

When sitting to consider a constitutional matter, quorum is achieved by an odd number of justices, not less than five. In Uganda, the Deputy Chief Justice is not a member of the Supreme Court.