The Director of Communication and Public Affairs at Parliament, Chris Obore has denied no one ever wrote to them in relation to the appointment of Steven Kavuma as the Deputy Chief Justice.
Media early this week quoted Uganda Law Society president Francis Gimara saying that the body had warned parliament against the appointment of Kavuma.
However, in a statement, Obore said that no person or organization had written to the Speaker of Parliament about the suitability the Deputy Chief Justice.
“By a letter dated March 2, 2015 it indicated that the appointment of the Chief Justice Bart Katureebe and Deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma was done by President Museveni acting on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission,” says Obore.
He adds that Justice Kavuma was only invited to Parliament for vetting as required by the constitution.
“He appeared before the Appointments Committee and prior to his vetting, some members raised a matter about the legality of his appearance before the committee; that his appointment was not done on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission,” he said.
“It was agreed that no such petition had been received by parliament and the only relevant information before the committee was the letter of the president.”
According Obore, when put to the vetting process, Kavuma satisfactorily answered the questions put to him by the committee and that a chance was given to public but no one wrote to parliament questioning the legality and suitability of Justice Steven Kavuma as Deputy Chief Justice.
“It is not true that the Law Society of Uganda or the Judicial Service Commission warned the Appointments Committee or Parliament about the legality.”
The Director of Communication however said that in cases where someone wrote to them in regards to legality of a nominee, they had written back to the president who in some cases had withdrawn the nomination.