By Our Reporters
Yusuf Nsibambi, a lecturer at Makerere Law School, says he has ceased being a lawyer to protest the disappointing way in which the Constitutional Court decided the age limit case. Speaking this morning on CBS radio, Nsibambi said being a lawyer doesn’t make sense anymore in Museveni’s Uganda. He said the way the petition was decided showed a group of judges that are very frightened and working to please the president. Nsibambi referred to Justice Remy Kasule saying the demeanor and body language he exhibited indicated he didn’t believe what he was reading. Nsibambi, who is also a political activist, argued it’s worthless for Ugandans to consider going to court anymore. He said he doesn’t support the idea of anyone, including Law Society, appealing the decision in Justice Katureebe’s Supreme Court. He said Ugandans should now consider to politically remove President Museveni through protests and other defiance activities. “We should be going to the people now mobilizing and telling them what to do next rather than wasting time going to Supreme Court,” he said.
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Speaking on capital gang this morning, three other eminent lawyers gave their views and were very critical of the judgment too. These were Robert Kirunda, Abdul Katuntu & ex-Uganda Law Society President Francis Gimara. The trio urged ULS to appeal to Supreme Court to ensure Owiny-Dollo’s anomalous decision isn’t allowed to remain on the record of Uganda’s jurisprudence anywhere. Kirunda said the Justices clearly didn’t take their work seriously and failed to treat the matter with the seriousness it deserved. He wondered how court would find that the manner in which MPs were beaten by the military violated Articles 24 & 44 of the Constitution but didn’t direct consequences against the perpetrators. Kirunda said that it now means the military will now justifiably do many things including raiding the court chambers to beat up the Chief Justice and it will all be okay and justifiable going by Justice Cheborion’s anomalous reasoning. Katuntu said the manner in which the case was decided now means anyone can breach the Parliamentary rules of procedure and get away with it. Gimara said until we revisit the recruitment process of the judges and increase scrutiny by way of deepening public participation, this issue of having seemingly politically-biased and timid judges won’t go away. The trio wondered why the justices made wonderful findings but arrived at totally contradictory conclusions. They wondered how court would find many areas of noncompliance with basic rules and best practice conduct but failed to conclude accordingly. Semujju Nganda wondered why judges hid behind the claim that non observance of the rules wasn’t fatal just because they feared to hold in a manner that could offend the President. Gimara blasted Speaker Kadaga for reneging on her promise to ensure the vetting of the Judges was opened up. Gimara said anomalous as the judgment was, he still finds it’s reflective of great improvement at that court compared to the mediocrity of Justice Steven Kavuma’s era. “We have come a long way and that’s why I remain optimistic. We had a time when judgments came from that court and there was even nothing to be discussed. This is good there is some improvement and let’s keep interrogating this document,” Gimara said insisting the ULS must appeal & persuade the Supreme Court to reverse some of the anomalous conclusions the Mbale judges arrived at. Semujju Nganda agreed that even when he was disappointed as a petitioner, the Owiny-Dollo Constitutional Court is still an improvement “because we can never have something worse than what Kavuma offered in that Court.” For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755.
