By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
PARROTS UG| COURTS:
President Museveni has appointed the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in charge of Inspections, Research, Quality Assurance and Training, Alice Komuhangi Khauka to judge of high court in the newly appointed justices and judges of the court of appeal and the High court respectively.
According to an appointment letter dated August 19, which Parrots UG has seen, President Museveni has appointed seven new judges, with five at the High Court and two to the Court of Appeal/Constitutional Court justices.
“In exercise of the powers vested in the President by Article 142(1) of the 1995 Constitution, I have, acting on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission, appointed persons listed below as Justices of the Appeal and Judges of the High Court, respectively,” reads excerpts of a letter.
The appointed are; Jinja Resident Judge, Eva Luswata Kawuma, and the Deputy Solicitor General, Christopher Gashirabake who have been appointed to the Court of Appeal.
The deputy DPP Alice Komuhangi, and four others; Tom Chemutai, Vincent Wagona, Florence Nakachwa, and Lawrence Tweyanze have been appointed judges of tge High court.
Parrots UG has learned that names of the appointees have been submitted to the Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Jacob Lokoli Oulanyah for vetting and approval.
Once approved, the appointment of five judges of High court will increase the total number of judges to 67 which is less by 15 of the approved Parliament structure for High Court judges (82 judges), while the appointment of three justices to the Court of Appeal will increase the total number of justices to the second-highest court to 17.
About Alice Komuhangi.
Born in Rujumbura Rukungiri district, Alice Komuhangi Khaukha is the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions heading the Directorate of Inspections, Research, Quality Assurance and Training of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) a position she assumed in 2020.
In April 2018, she was appointed head of the Anti-Corruption Department, to the Office of DPP which handles all corruption and money laundering cases in the country and cases of asset recovery.
During her service at the helm of Anti-corruption Department (ODPP), Komuhangi was influential on the Asset Recovery Network for Eastern Africa (ARIN-EA) and became Uganda’s Focal Point Person to the network. ARIN-EA, is a network that allows and eases the sharing of information within the Region on matters of identifying illicitly acquired assets.
She also headed the Gender, Children and Sexual Offences Department (ODPP) where she initiated, identified and developed a Training Curriculum on Child Psychology, Child Development and Child Engagement, through which prosecutors countrywide have been trained and benefited from
Komuhangi is the initiator of a child-friendly space, a room where child witnesses and victims are prepared and refreshed in preparation for presentation in court, the first of its kind in all Justice Law and Order Sector institutions.
In 2013, Komuhangi worked as the Deputy Head of the Department of the Land Crimes Department which had been newly established to oversee, investigate and prosecute land related crimes in Uganda.
Between 2013 and 2016, Ms. Komuhangi headed the Kampala Regional Office, the busiest region of the Office of the DPP handling complex cases.
Komuhangi actively and effectively represented the ODPP on the Legal task force of the Inter-Agency Forum (IAF) that initiated and developed the Anti-Corruption Act No.6 of 2009, the Whistle-Blowers Protection Act No.6 of 2010, and the National Strategy on Zero Tolerance to Corruption, the Leadership Code Amendment Act. She also participated in the development of the Anti-Money Laundering Legislation 2013.
She headed a number of DPP field stations in the Eastern and Central Uganda and when the first Anti-Fraud Unit of the ODPP was established to handle very high profile and complex fraud and corruption-related matters.
Her judicial expertise and powers can be acknowledged in the investigations and prosecution of Global Fund cases some of which she prosecuted and secured 100% conviction rate as a team leader. Its due to her efforts that she later acted as the head of Anti-Fraud Unit which later translated into the Anti-Corruption Department.
Komuhangi joined the ODPP as a Pupil State Attorney in 1999. She was promoted to Senior State Attorney in 2003 and later Principal State Attorney in 2007.
In 2014, she was promoted to Senior Principal State Attorney. She was given accelerated promotion to the Post of Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions in 2017, a post she held until her appointment as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions.
She holds a Masters Degree in Institutional Management and Leadership (MIML) from Uganda Management Institute (UMI), a Master of Laws (LLM) Degree from Makerere University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Center and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Honors Degree from Makerere University.
Courtesy Photo.
