Ex-Chief Justice Katureebe speaks on Judiciary, united Africa vision

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On June 20, 2020, Bart Katureebe retired from the position of Chief Justice (CJ) after clocking 70 years. He was appointed to the position of CJ on March 5, 2015.

Before that, he was a justice of the Supreme Court. About five years since Katureeba retired, the lows and ups in his tenure at the helm of the Judiciary remain fresh on his mind.

In an interview with New Vision at the Namibian Consulate in Kampala on Tuesday, Katureebe, who presided over the Amama Mbabazi presidential election petition (2016) recalls that the hardest moment in the Judiciary service is handling a presidential election petition and deciding constitutional interpretation-related matters. 

Below is an excerpt of the interview:

Q. What is your take on our politics, which appears to grow more violent based on what we are witnessing in Kawempe North Parliamentary byelection?

A. I think that's a political question that I don't want to answer. Let politicians do their job. I did some work as a politician. I was a Member of Parliament, I was a Cabinet minister, I was Attorney General. That chapter closed. I became a judge. I played my part as a judicial officer. Now I'm a retired senior citizen, I hold certain opinions, but they remain with me for the time being. I haven't followed the Kawempe byelection, I only saw the candidates debating the other day, which I thought was a good thing and a development that people could debate and express their views.

Q. Are you happy with what is going on in the country?

A. Everything that we do successfully makes me happy. When I see more children at school, when I see more hospitals, lively debates on the airwaves, all make me happy. However, it makes me unhappy when some people take the law into their own hands and we have some of these ugly incidents that we have seen, it makes me worry and sad.

Q. In the 2016 Amama Mbabazi Presidential Election Petition against President Yoweri Museveni’s victory, you recommended a raft of reforms in our electoral process. Are you satisfied with the implementation since?

A. We were more concerned about the structure of holding elections, the time, even for holding a Presidential Election Petition, the time for campaigns and things like that. I don't remember much of the details, but I hear not much has been done. We believed that certain things were necessary to be put in place to avoid hiccups in another election. But at the time that I retired, I remember we summoned the Attorney General to report to us what they had done. And at that time, there were few amendments; I don't recollect which, but there were a few amendments that were being tabled in Parliament.

Q. What was the most challenging moment in the course of your work?

A. Many challenging issues came up. But the Presidential Election Petition and Constitutional interpretation matters were more challenging. At that time, you are facing a politically divided country and people are infused with different political views. The lawyers are divided, and so on, and yet you must reach a verdict. It's always a very hard moment.

Honorary Consul of Namibia to Uganda Godfrey Kirumira welcoming Katureebe to the Namibian consulate in Kampala

1. I think the vision they had was the one strong African state. And I think if we utilised the resources of Africa for the benefit of Africa, the resources: Natural, human resources and financial, we will be in a position to achieve such a dream. We are now in the situation where America takes away their aid, then we start crying for our patients in the hospitals and so on. So, I think the vision that people like Sam Nujoma, Nkwameh Nkurumah, Nelson Mandela had for Africa through the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) is still relevant today. And I think that we should remember the contribution of these people and the new African leaders should try and consolidate their vision.

Q. What is your take on the recent trimming of the powers of the military courts by the Supreme Court?

A. Interesting, I haven't even read the decision of the court, but it's a matter that I think has been decided, and I hope we can abide by the decision of the court.

Q. What was your biggest achievement in the judiciary?

A. Actually, I am the one who advocated for the salary enhancement in the judiciary. That is one of the things I did for the judiciary. Fortunately, the Parliament passed a law which gave me retirement benefits. Although it is not very much, but I think every judge now has retirement benefits. The other thing I did for the judiciary was to build the home for the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. By the time I retired, we were on the second floor of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal buildings. That was my initiative. Well, I found the plans there. Let me not say other people had conceived it. But what I found was talk of building and I had a big battle with the people in the finance ministry saying “look, if you want to build a home for the judiciary, especially for the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, it should entirely be owned by government not public-private partnership (PPP)”.

Q. How is your life in retirement?

A. I am enjoying my retirement. I have a firm that does mediation and arbitration. I work on my own, at my own pace. And most importantly, I spend more time with my grandchildren and family. So, I'm enjoying myself. I'm not the firm manager, there is a firm manager there, but I go there to get reports at least twice a month.