{UAH} The untold story of Museveni’s appointees kadaga again disappoints. what did she take that morning? ~ Ugandans At Heart (UAH)

The untold story of Museveni's appointees

Written by SADAB KITATTA KAAYA, SULAIMAN KAKAIRE & DEO WALUSIMBI

Last Updated: 20 March 2015

Speaker Rebecca Kadaga

How Justice Kavuma overcame scheme to dump him

There was drama and controversy as parliament's appointments committee approved most of President Museveni's ministerial and judicial nominees on Wednesday. At around 11am, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga convened a preliminary session of the committee she chairs to discuss the appointees who were to appear later that day.

The appointees included Justice Bart Katureebe and Justice Steven Kavuma, nominated as chief justice and deputy chief justice respectively. Others were ministerial appointees, including Ndorwa West's David Bahati, Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi (Rujumbura), Evelyn Anite (Youth MP, North), Dr Chris Baryomunsi (Kinkiizi East), Vincent Ssempijja (Kalungu East) and Dr Philemon Mateke.

During this discussion, opposition members made it clear they were opposed to the new ministers and Justice Kavuma in particular. Led by Wafula Oguttu, the leader of opposition, they asked Kadaga to defer the vetting process. Their point was that the cabinet was not broadly representative of the national character as demanded by the constitution.

REGIONAL REPRESENTATION

"Our concern was that one region [western Uganda] had a bigger share of ministers than others," said UPC's Betty Amongi (Oyam South). "To us, this is against the constitution, which provides that the composition of government shall be broadly representative of the national character and social diversity of the country."

We have been told that the opposition's case won the support of some NRM members of the committee. These included Dr Sam Agatre Okuonzi (Vurra), Kyamanywa Kasirivu-Atwooki (Bugangaizi West) and Simon Peter Aleper (Moroto municipality).

But the speaker, sources have pointed out, was unwavering in her determination to get the vetting process out of the way, just as she had done the previous day when dismissing a similar motion moved by Kaps Fungaro (Obongi, FDC).

Fungaro had on Tuesday in the plenary sought to reject the new ministers but Kadaga reminded him that it was the work of the appointments committee.
"Tell us which part of our rules tells us to stop doing our work; tell me that rule…," she said, before adjourning the house.

REGIONAL BALANCE

When the matter was resurrected in the appointments committee on Wednesday, Kadaga was still unwavering. She said the committee couldn't rely on regional imbalance as the basis to stop the vetting process.

Earlier, Amongi had reminded members that after the last reshuffle, they had written to the president urging him to consider regional balance in future and he had promised to look into the issue.

"But it seems he is taking us for a ride because he has continued to appoint the cabinet the way he wants without minding about regional balance," Amongi submitted.

The MP, who is chairperson of Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA), also complained about gender imbalance in the president's appointments.
She said Museveni had sidelined women in his judicial appointments.

"In the event that the chief justice is a man, his deputy would have been a woman, but President Museveni went on to throw out all women who were interviewed by the judicial service commission to appoint [Justice] Kavuma because he always acted in his favour," she said.

However, Amongi was challenged by Victoria Rusoke (Kabarole Woman, NRM), who reportedly submitted that regional imbalance was exaggerated, citing Evelyn Anite and Prof Tikodri Togboa, both hailing from the north, and Vincent Ssempijja of Buganda, to make her point. On gender balance, she said the women who sat interviews for the office of deputy chief justice could have failed.

Rusoke's submission, we have been told, got Kadaga nodding in approval. Having failed in her bid to block the appointments, Amongi told The Observer yesterday:

"We shall be meeting the president on this issue to understand why the majority of people he appointed come from his area."

ENTER KAVUMA

Justice Kavuma's approval was particularly contentious, resulting in Oguttu and his opposition colleagues walking out. First, Oguttu drew the speaker's attention to a letter from one Eunice Nalumansi, who claimed that Kavuma had defrauded her and was therefore unfit to hold such high judicial office.

Nalumansi says in her petition addressed to Kadaga and copied to Oguttu, that Justice Kavuma took her car in 2004 but has up to now refused to pay her for it.

"He has not bought it nor has he paid her money for hiring it," Oguttu told The Observer.

Nalumansi reportedly attached court documents to support her petition. Oguttu and his opposition colleagues wanted this accusation to form the basis for an investigation before Kavuma could be approved.

"An investigation would have helped us to clarify Nalumansi's claims because she also says that her efforts to seek justice in the courts of law have been failed," Oguttu said yesterday.

However, Kadaga didn't see merit in Nalumansi's petition, upon which Oguttu and company turned to the petition that Geral Karuhanga (Youth MP, West) tried but failed to file in the Constitutional court on Wednesday.

They also cited a letter to the committee by retired Supreme court judge George Wilson Kanyeihamba to the effect that Kavuma had not gone through the due process of vetting by the judicial service commission.

"I informed the speaker and other members, that two lawyers on JSC and a clerk informed me that they had never received an application from Justice Kavuma, they have never interviewed or forwarded his name to be appointed as deputy chief justice," Oguttu said.

He added that he had been told by the three "whistleblowers" that JSC's nominees for the job were, Justice Stella Arach Amoko of the Supreme court and Justice Egonda Ntende of the Court of Appeal, and a third name he could not remember. According to Oguttu, Kavuma's appointment is, therefore, unconstitutional.

"The court has just made a decision that the president can only appoint from individuals recommended by the judicial service commission," he reportedly told his colleagues.

In response, Kadaga told the committee that she could not stay Kavuma's vetting because she had not got such information from the JSC.

"We suggested that let us delay his vetting for at least an hour so that we could call in JSC like we did the last time when we rejected [Justice Benjamin] Odoki's reappointment, but still she refused," Jack Wamanga Wamai (Mbale municipality) told The Observer yesterday.

GENDER BALANCE

Having failed on that front too, those opposed to Kavuma's appointment played their last card – gender balance, pointing out that this position has previously gone to a woman.

The last two holders were; the late Lady Justice Constance Byamugisha and Lady Justice Laetitia Mukasa Kikonyogo.

"Among the three names that JSC recommended to the president was Justice Stella Arach-Amoko who is more senior to Kavuma," Oguttu pointed out.

"We are certain he did not apply for that job because at the time it was advertised, he was acting CJ, therefore he could not apply for DCJ because it is a junior position to the one he was acting in," Oguttu said.

After the committee failed to build consensus, Jinja municipality West MP, Moses Balyeku, reminded the members of President Museveni's letter urging them to approve Kavuma.

Balyeku claimed that in the letter, Museveni says he had interacted with the JSC over the matter of Justice Kavuma. Frustrated, Oguttu decided to lead his charges out of the committee room. Attempts by Kadaga, Gen Elly Tumwine (Army), Paula Turyahikayo (Rubabo) and Balyeku to persuade them to say landed on deaf ears.

Kadaga urged the agitated members to stay on and interview the man, reminding them that the committee has in the past rejected some names. But her plea went unheeded as Oguttu, Amongi, Betty Aol (Gulu Woman MP, FDC), Jack Wamai Wamanga and Ssebuliba Mutumba (Kawempe South, DP), made for the exit.

Later, some opposition MPs alleged that their NRM colleagues had met the president just before the committee sat. Inside Oguttu's chambers, the dissenting MPs resolved to go to court. They delegated Aol and Amongi to go back to the committee and follow the proceedings in preparation for that action.

We have been told that Justice Katureebe's engagement with the committee went smoothly, while Justice Kavuma was made to explain his appointment. Kavuma reportedly produced documents indicating that he had applied for the job in 2012.

"He also gave us documents showing that he sat the interviews," Aleper told us.

Another source told us that after Kavuma had left the room, Aol objected to his approval but to no avail.

"I was finally given the chance [to talk] but the committee did not listen to my reasons for deferring the appointment of Justice Kavuma," Aol said.

In the end, it was only Aol who voted against the approval of the deputy chief justice. When contacted yesterday, Ranny Ismail, an official in charge of the media in Kadaga's office, said the speaker was only doing her job.

"The committee has its procedures...it does not work in anticipation. If any member had evidence, they should have brought it before the committee in time," Ismail said, adding that the speaker does not act basing on anyone's whims but, rather, what the law states.
Written by SADAB KITATTA KAAYA, SULAIMAN KAKAIRE & DEO WALUSIMBI