By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA:
The parliamentary Appointments Committee has on Tuesday vetted the Presidential nominees to serve as Judges in the Court of Appeal and the High Court respectively.
The nominees are; the former Deputy Solicitor General, Christopher Gashirabake, and Justice Eva Luswata, who have been approved to serve in the Court of Appeal.
The other five nominees to serve as Judges in the High Court who appeared before the committtees include, the former Deputy Director of Law Development Centre, Florence Nakachwa, former Acting Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Tom Chemutai, the former Deputy Registrar in the Department of Inspectorate of Courts,Lawrence Tweyanze, and the former Deputy Directors of Public Prosecutions Vincent Wagona and Alice Komuhangi.
The approval of Justices Gashirabake and Luswata brings the total of Court of Appeal justices to 15 whereas the approval of the five judges of the High Court brings the total number of High Court 57.
According to the Appointments Committee of Parliament, the seven presidential nominees were approved because they did not have a bad track record.
Conflict of interest however aroused during the vetting exercise for Florence Nakachwa, and a section of MPs sitting on the committee who were her students excused themselves from the proceeding.
These included Leader of Opposition Mathias Mpuuga and Bugiri Municipality MP Asuman Basalirwa.
The seven judges pledged to help in reducing on case backlog within the Judiciary.
