Government sets to increase number of Supreme Court judges
The Judicature (Amendment) Bill, 2023, has been introduced by the government with the aim of augmenting the judiciary’s strength on the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal, which also serves as the Constitutional Court, hears appeals from the High Court, while the Supreme Court is Uganda’s highest court of law.
The Bill was presented by Norbert Mao, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, at a meeting on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023, that was presided over by Speaker Anita Among.
The Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, to which the Bill was referred for examination, was tasked with processing it and bringing it back for the second reading the following week after it was noted that the Bill only contained two clauses.
There are just two clauses in the entire bill. Among stated, “I want you to put in a lot of effort and bring it back for the second reading on Tuesday 28th Nov 2023.
Among expressed worry about the piecemeal approach taken to amending the constitution and questioned Mao about what had become of the Constitutional Review Commission, which, in her words, should ideally handle all constitutional amendments.
“We would like to know if there will be a constitutional review commission or not. We have a lot of proposals for constitutional amendments,” Among stated.
Mao restated that his ministry could not afford to create the commission and suggested that the government use the Uganda Law Reform Commission instead.
“It is regrettable that the constitutional review commission has not been constituted. We have decided to recommend to the government the Uganda Law Reform Commission to take charge of the review process; it is a constitutional body with the ability to do the work, all we would need is to beef it up with additional members,” Mao said.
