Supreme Court Judge, Esther Kisaakye has dragged the top management of the Judiciary including; Chief Justice, Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, Secretary, Pius Bigirimana, and Chief Registrar, Sarah Langa to the Constitutional Court accusing them of engaging in several acts that infringe on both her personal rights and constitution.
Among the alleged constitutional violations Justice Kisaakye lists is the continuous confiscation of her case files/rulings which she contends is an obstruction of justice and an infringement on the independence of the Judiciary.
In her petition, Kisaakye says she is aggrieved with the Chief Justice and his team’s decision to close the Supreme Court from June 1, 2022, to date with no alternative sitting premises, something she attributes to denying substantive justices to Ugandans.
Kisaakye further contends that despite the Chief Justice, Chief Registrar, and the Attorney General having a wide span of legal knowledge, the trio has chosen to look on as rights abuses are being meted on her by the institution she has served for the last ten years in a senior capacity.
Other alleged abuses listed by Kisakye include; the denial to approve her accumulated leave of 146 days since 2020, denial of medical treatment funds for specialised eye treatment, buying of reading glasses from the USA, denial of an undertaking letter to her bankers for approval of a salary loan, and refusal to allocate her any duties or work as an active Supreme Court judge.
Others are; scrapping her from the government payroll, refusal to give her bodyguard and driver leave allowances, withdrawal of her research assistant, and conducting purported investigations behind her back.
Justice Kisaakye states that her woes started in March 2021 when she was enlisted as one of the nine justices to hear and dispose off a presidential election petition filed by NUP candidate, Robert Kyagulangyi Ssentamu against the victory of President Yoweri Kaguta Tibahurwa Museveni.
She further argues the other eight justices on the panel made a unanimous ruling to disallow the application, adding that she had a dissenting view which she informed the chief justice. Apparently, Kisaakye notified him that she would like to highlight and read her reasons for the same in open court.
She narrates that after Kyagulangyi’s decision to withdraw the petition; the Supreme Court made a summary judgment and reserved to have a detailed ruling and reasoning on the matter on March 18, 2021.
The Constitutional Court has now ordered the Chief justice, Chief Registrar, Secretary to the judiciary, Human Resource, and the Attorney General to file their respective defence statements within 7 days.
