Investigations into the fight between chief justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo and Supreme court justice Esther Kisakye are still ongoing, the permanent secretary of the Judiciary Pius Birgirimana has said.
Bigirimana was appearing before parliament's Legal Affairs committee to present the Judiciary's ministerial policy statement. The MPs sought clarification over the recent ugly clash between Owiny-Dollo and Kisakye in relation to the 2021 presidential election petition.
Kisakye accused the chief justice of confiscating the file containing her minority ruling that she was due to present after the other Supreme court justices presented their detailed majority ruling.
Power was later switched off and the PA system disconnected just before Kisakye could deliver her ruling. She was also left alone on the bench after her fellow Supreme court judges opted to stay away. Later, the Judiciary explained that Kisakye had gone against the normal practice of sharing rulings between the judges before making them public.
Now the Legal Affairs committee chairperson Jacob Oboth Oboth asked Birgirimana whether they have mechanisms of handling conflicts within the leadership of the Judiciary.
Birgirimana in response told the committee that they have a disciplinary committee and high ranking officials are sent to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). He said that particular incident is before the two committees which he believes will handle the matter.
Bugiri Municipality MP Asuman Basalirwa informed the committee that when the JSC appeared before the committee earlier, they informed the MPs that they were investigating the matter and the public will be informed about the outcome once they finalize their investigations.
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