President Yoweri Museveni has appointed under fire Inspector General of Government (IGG) Lady Justice Irene Mulyagonja to the Court of Appeal, Business Focus reports.
She has been appointed alongside two others; Lawyer Muzamiru Kibeedi and High Court Judge Monica Mugyenyi Kalyegira.
12 new High Court Judges have also been named including the Inspector of Courts, Immaculate Busingye Byaruhanga, Vincent Mugabo and Registrars Phillip Odoki and Ester Nambayo, among others.
In a letter from Museveni to the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, others like Jesse Byaruhanga Rugyema, Isah Sserunkuma, Jeane Rwakakoko and Abinnyo Suzanne have been appointed to serve in the High Court.
The Judiciary have on several times decried shortages of judges as a leading cause of case backlog across Uganda.
It should be noted that four months ago, it emerged that Mulyagonja was pondering quitting her Shs37m job for a less paying one.
This is after she applied for a job at the Judicial Service Commission as judge of the Constitutional Court (also known as The Court of Appeal of Uganda) that would see her take home about Shs20m per month.
Mulyagonja was among the 24 applicants that were shortlisted for vacant positions on the panel of the Constitutional Court.
The Court of Appeal of Uganda is the second-highest judicial organ in Uganda.
It derives its powers from Article 134 of the 1995 Constitution. It is an appellate court when hearing cases appealed from the High Court of Uganda. However, it has original jurisdiction when adjudicating matters relating to the constitutionality of matters before it.
All judgments by the Court of Appeal are theoretically appealable to the Supreme Court of Uganda, if the Supreme Court decides to hear the appeal
Justice Mulyagonja was appointed on April 12, 2012 from the High Court where she served as the judge.
She has served for seven years and she replaced Raphael Baku who stepped in as acting Inspector General of Government after the Justice Faith Mwondha refused to appear before Members of Parliament for vetting and thereafter she resigned and reverted back to the judiciary for redeployment.
Recently junior workers at her office wrote to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, crying of corruption, impunity and maladministration taking place at the IGG that is supposed to fight corruption in public offices, saying that the institution requires a new leadership at the helm.
A group of disgruntled staff at IGG on March 3, 2019 wrote to the Head of the Anti-Corruption Unit Lt Col. Edith Nakalema, calling on her office to intervene and save the situation at the IGG’s office. “We write in good faith, and pray that your good office shall take action on that matter,” the letter reads in part.
They accuse the Secretary to the Inspectorate Rose N. Nakafeero together with members of the board and the management team for handpicking and interviewing people and that are yet to issue new appointments to new inspectorate officers without following the normal recruitment procedure set by the Internal Human Resource Policy of 2017 or the Public Service Standing Orders 2010.
They claimed that some officials at the IGG’s office are receiving bribery of Shs350 million for people whose cases are not registered with the inspectorate. They wanted President Museveni to disband the management team ledby Mariam F. Wangadya.
In response to the allegations, Justice Mulyagonja said that what her staff ought to understand is the fact that the budget allocation to the institution isn’t sufficient to have all salaries increased. On other allegations, Mulyagonja dismissed them as untrue.
“Actually it is members of who staff and their main concern that we don’t listen to them is untrue. However, they do not know the environment we are operating in because everything rotates on the budget allocation given to us. For other issues in their letter are baseless only intended to grab attention,” Justice Mulyagonja said in an interview with Eagle Online.
