In an affidavit to support the application, Mabirizi contends that Bigirimana’s actions among others interfere with the judiciary which must be independent.
Lawyer Male
Mabirizi Kiwanuka has filed an application in the High Court seeking orders to
compel the Secretary to the Judiciary Pius Bigirimana to publicly apologize to the
Supreme Court Justice Esther Kisaakye.
In an application
filed in the High Court in Kampala, Mabirizi who is currently serving a prison
sentence for contempt of the judiciary, argues that the action of Bigirimana writing
to Justice Kisaakye demanding that she explains why a salary for nine months
paid to her while she stayed away from work shouldn’t be recovered.
In an
affidavit to support the application, Mabirizi contends that Bigirimana’s
actions among others interfere with the judiciary which must be
independent. “I also know that the power to discipline a justice of the
Supreme Court or any other justice or judge or any other judicial officer does
not belong to the permanent secretary/secretary to the judiciary. I know that
the said letter derogated the non-derogable right to a fair hearing because it
demanded a refund before any hearing…The letter had the effect of
undermining the independence of the judiciary.
It is in the
interest of protecting the independence and integrity of the judiciary that the
application is granted,” Mabirizi’s affidavit reads in part. Mabirizi also adds
that Bigirimana is holding the position of permanent secretary/secretary to the
judiciary illegally after the 2020 ruling by the Constitutional Court that the
judiciary must be self-accounting for it to foster the independence that the
constitution envisions.
In 2017, the
Uganda Law Society petitioned the Constitutional Court seeking to nullify a
number of clauses in the Public Finance Management Act which they said
subjected the judiciary to control of the Legislature and Executive yet they
are equal arms of government. Therefore, Mabirizi wants the court to issue, “a
declaration that the 1st July 2022 letter by Pius Bigirimana signing
off as permanent secretary/secretary to Judiciary to…Justice Esther Kisaakye…was
illegal procedurally improper, ultra vires the functions of the signatory null
and void.
Mabirizi’s
application comes on the heels of calls by different organizations and
individuals decrying Kisaakye’s ‘mistreatment.’ Among the organizations that have
spoken out about the way Kisaakye is being treated is the International
Commission of Jurists which demanded that before Bigirimana moves to enforce
his directives, he must ensure that Kisaakye is given an opportunity to
respond.
Kisaakye
rose to prominence last year when she was a lone dissenter in an application
arising out of a Presidential Petition filed by the National Unity Platform-NUP
former presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi seeking orders to nullify the
victory of President Museveni.
When the court
convened to issue its ruling on the application by Kyagulanyi seeking to
introduce new evidence supporting the petition, Kisaakye was not allowed to
issue her dissent. She later told journalists that Chief Justice Alphonse
Owinyi-Dollo had confiscated her ruling.
