President Yoweri Museveni has exercised his powers as head of state to raise up 5 persons including registrars and prosecutors as judges of the High Court.
In a letter to the Speaker of Parliament Rt Hon Rebbecca Kadaga Museveni says: “In exercise of powers vested in the President by Article 142(1) of the 1995 Constitution, I have, acting on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission appointed these persons judges of the High Court.
These include; Tom Chemutai(registrar), Lawrence Tweyanze(registrar), Vincent Wagona(prosecutor), Alice Komuhangi Khaukha (Deputy Director of Public Prosecution), and Florence Nakachwa.
Recently, the cabinet revised the Judiciary’s structure to accommodate a bigger number of judges.
This followed complaints of case backlog spanning years with several prison inmates in prison without remand.
Frank Baine, the Uganda Prisons Service spokesperson said on Monday that that 4440 suspected capital offenders who had completed their mandatory six-month remand period have never been tried despite being committed for trial in the High Court.
Uganda has been operating on only 81 judges countrywide out of 108 approved, but the goal is to increase the number to 228.
While addressing Judicial officers recently, Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera mentioned that there are plans to increase the number of officers both nonjudicial and judicial.
This follows a revised structure to be implemented in the next five years.
