Image credit: Prof George Kanyeihamba/London Evening Post
Former Ugandan Supreme Court Judge Professor George William Kanyeihamba broke down and cried as he lambasted the state of political affairs in Uganda.
During an interview with NTV Uganda, the former Supreme Court Judge and chancellor of two universities was overrun by emotions. He scorned the country’s current judicial system, which he said was in a paralysis and beholden to the ruling party and it’s long-reigning leader, President Yoweri Museveni.
Locked out of Court
As the center of the dispute is Justice Steven Kavuma, who has been appointed as Deputy Chief Justice of Uganda.
The Observer reported that Justice Kavuma’s approval by a parliamentary committee was contentious as members of the opposition requested a deferral in order to investigate allegations of fraud against the Justice. Speaker Rebecca Kadaga refused to entertain their concerns, forcing some opposition members to walk out.
Kanyeihamba is representing Western youth MP Gerald Karuhanga, who is challenging the nomination and appointment. The petition alleges that Kavuma was not on the list of persons nominated for the position by the Judicial Service Commission. The list, according on one report, named Justice Stella Arach Amoko of the Supreme court and Justice Egonda Ntende of the Court of Appeal.
On Wednesday a huddle of lawyer (Kanyeihamba among them) approached the Constitutional Court to file a petition contending that Kavuma’s nomination is void for failure to comply with the constitutionally-mandated vetting process by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). The court clerks ignored the request to file and then simply walked out of the offices, thus effectively barring them from filing with the registrar.
Cry Uganda
Giving an interview on the Constitutional Court steps, the former judge said he was “flabbergasted” that such a thing could happen under the stewardship of what used to be the national resistance movement. “Even during the worst days of Idi Amin, litigants were allowed to file cases,” he said.
Even during the worst days of Idi Amin, litigants were allowed to file cases.
Prof Kanyeihamba himself was once a stalwart of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM). As Chairperson of the Legal Drafting Committee, he was instrumental in the crafting of the Uganda Constitution by the Constituency Assembly in 1995. During his appointment to the Supreme Court, columnist Munini Mulera doubted the Professor’s judicial independence, “The thought of Justice Kanyeihamba, a pillar of the NRM, exercising his professional and legal independence, to find in favour of his former political opponents, is simply too delicious for words.”
However, in Besigye v Electoral Commission (2006/2007) Kanyeihamba was one the three Supreme Court justices who ruled that the election of President Museveni was fraudulent enough to be nullified. He fell out of favor with the establishment and lost his position at the African Court of Justice.
Prof Kanyeihamba has since aligned himself with activists, often crossing swords with his party. During the NTV interview, he said he has been battling for three years with other lawyers to stop the ruling party and its government from violating the Constitution.
He said he was crying because he loves the country and its Constitution in the same way that he loves his family (“relatives”). “I cry because of the demolition of our Constitution, which was promulgated by all the people of Uganda and, now, is being thrown in the dustbin of history by people who are not principled and are misgoverning this country.”
The former judge chided that Kavuma was “smuggled” into the post of Deputy Chief Justice. He referred to the holding in Karuhanga v Attorney General, in which he argued for the petitioner and prevailed. That petition challenged the extension of Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki’s tenure for a term of 2 years, despite having reached mandatory age of retirement (70 years).
In that case, the Court held that Article 142 of the Constitution provides for a tripartite procedure in which the Judicial Service Commission is required to compose a list of nominees and submit the list to the President. The President then makes appointments from this list and sends the names to Parliament for approval:
“The President can only appoint a Judicial Officer from a list the Judicial Service Commission provides. It is therefore my considered opinion the President cannot initiate the process of appointing any particular individual to judicial office. To allow such a process would be to undermine the independence of the Commission and in a way subject it to the direction or control of the Executive Arm of Government, contrary to Article 147 (2) of the Constitution.”
10 year anniversary of multiparty democracy
2015 marks the tenth-year anniversary of the reintroduction of multiparty democracy in Uganda after the referendum in 2005. However, the country appears stuck in pre-2005 limbo. President Museveni is more Supreme Leader than President.
Mr Museveni wrote in his book What is Africa’s Problem that, “No African head of a state should in power for more than 10 years.” I wrote in 2013, with gushing irony, that he has now been in power for three decades.
The core hypothesis of the book is that perpetual presidencies erode majoritarian democracy. He cautioned that long-serving incumbents consolidate power and de-evolve a democratic state into a pseudo-monarchy. He warned about patronage networks in which successors are handpicked rather than elected into office democratically. His book has proven to be a useful bible for his own actions.
The state of democratic institutions in Uganda is appalling! Unconstitutional judicial appointments, as this one surely is, serve only to fortify deeply-embeded patronage networks. One can validly speculate that Justice Kavuma is a political appointee. If that’s the case, then the establishment is scratching his back in anticipation of disputes during elections later this year.
We should all be weeping. Cry Africa, cry!
You can contact me regarding this column: bradcibane[at]thelawthinker[dot]com.
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