The Judiciary has dismissed claims that the Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo and other justices secretly met President Yoweri Museveni over Bobi Wine petition.
A few days ago, reports made rounds on social media claiming that top judiciary officials, some of whom are on the panel handling Bobi Wine real name Robert Kyagulanyi’s petition challenging President Museveni’s recent election victory.
The reports further note that a police officer was arrested for leaking CCTV footage of the judiciary leaders’ motorcade driving into and out of the State House, Entebbe for the alleged secret meeting.
“Whereas we cannot comment about the reported arrest of a police officer-for we have no official information to that effect- we would like to clarify that judiciary’s top leadership never participated in any secret meeting with the president,” the judiciary said in a statement on Sunday.
“It is public knowledge that Judiciary’s top administration was at State House Entebbe on February 10,2021 for the swearing in ceremony of the Hon Lady Justice Margaret Apiny, a newly appointed Judge of the High Court. It is a requirement of the law in Schedule o the Oath Act (Section 2 and 3rd Column) for such a judicial oath to be taken before the president or any other person authorized by the President.”
The Judiciary also revealed that the Chief Justice used the occasion to present Judiciary’s budget estimates for 2021/2022 financial year to the President as required by the Administration of Judiciary Act 2020.
“It is important to note that this was an official ceremony with the full glare of media coverage-there was nothing secret about it. It should further be noted that on February 16 2021, the Chief Justice Owiny Dollo attended the Jana Luwum Day celebrations at State House Entebbe at the invitation of the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda. This too was not in secret.’
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