By Mulengera Reporters
Chief Justice Alfonse Owinyi-Dollo says he was personally targeted for demonisation and unfairly so by the Ugandan populace simply because they were being incited and misled by lawyers who felt the delivery of judgement in the Mike Kabaziguruka constitutional appeal case (on army courts trying civilians) had taken too long.
The matter was first filed by ex-Nakawa MP Kabaziguruka in 2017 after he got locked up and put on trial before the General Court Martial after the state accused him of trying to breach the President’s security. Saying the Court Martial had no authority to try him, Kabaziguruka petitioned the Constitution Court which quashed the trial, declaring it unconstitutional in 2021.
The AG immediately appealed to the Supreme Court and secured stay of execution and since that time the apex Court hadn’t been able to conclude the same and render a judgement. On Friday as he led the panel of 7 Justices to deliver their ruling, Dollo castigated lawyers for “dishonestly telling the public” that he had personally sat on the appeal for 4 years.
The Chief Justice explained that the matter only delayed in his Court for 8 months, and not 4 years. He explained that the Court was constrained by events beyond his control as Chief Justice.
That the fire that gutted the Supreme Court premises in Kololo in April 2022 disrupted operations and had a delaying effect. And then came the flooding of the same offices which resulted into the Kololo premises being condemned unfit for habitation by the regulatory authority.
Then two Justices Paul Mugamba and Ezekiel Muhanguzi, who originally had been panel members, exited judicial service because of age. This happened in November 2022 and deprived the Court of Coram. Dollo says the panel had to be reconstituted but once again got disrupted by the unanticipated death of Justices Ruby Opio Aweri and Stella Arach Amoko.
This further complicated Coram problems which persisted up to May last year (2024) when the Supreme Court was reconstituted as a result of elevation of two Court of Appeal Justices namely Catherine Bamugemereire and Monica Mugenyi. The CJ says the delay can effectively be talked about in terms of from May 2024 to January 2025 period, which makes it 8 months and not 4 years.
Dollo said that all senior lawyers who used media platforms to castigate him ought to have known about all these circumstances as opposed to “dishonestly” destroying his name. He added that whoever demonised him thinking that he is the one being destroyed was unknowingly working against his or her own interests as a lawyer.
“This Supreme Court doesn’t belong to the Chief Justice. It’s for all the people of Uganda including you the lawyers. When you attack it, you are destroying your own home, your work place. It’s like piercing your own eyes with your own nails.” He clarified there is nothing wrong with him and other judicial officers being criticised but such criticism should be based on honest concerns which are well founded as opposed to mere sweeping statements.
Saying it was bad and unacceptable for any lawyer to politicize Court business in order to gain temporary fame on social media, Dollo confessed that he felt bad being targeted personally as if he had a personal interest in seeing the military courts being used to persecute Ugandan citizens.
Alternatively, he suggested that lawyers aggrieved with anything should have walked over to his office and raise any matter to him as opposed to rushing to the media to make dishonest claims which mislead the public which may not be able to promptly decipher right from wrong and truth from fake news. “Write to me or come to my chambers and criticise me; bring it to my attention.”
Referencing on the famous book “Man of All Seasons,” CJ Dollo also cautioned the lawyers thus: “Don’t burn this forest called the Supreme Court because as a lawyer, you will need to hide in it one day.”
He then proceeded to assure the lawyers that he wouldn’t revenge by using his office to victimise anyone even when he seemed angry and hurt by their unfounded criticisms. “Now don’t avoid me because of that. I’m not going to victimise anyone not even those who have been criticising me dishonestly and have thrown mud at me.”
Going forward, the Chief Justice suggested that the individual lawyers should consider issuing an apology and saying sorry not to him as CJ but some other individual judicial officers who previously have been criticised dishonestly.
At the end of the ruling-delivery session, senior lawyer Caleb Alaka seized on that tipping by Dollo and briefly addressed Court and offered some public apology for and on behalf of fellow advocates who might have uttered some inappropriate stuff in protest to the delayed delivery of the Kabaziguruka decision. Alaka was one of the lawyers for Mike Kabaziguruka, the Respondent in the Supreme Court. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
