Major shake-up as 73 judicial officers are transferred

The Chief Registrar, Sarah Langa Siu, has made a major shake-up in the judiciary in which at least 73 judicial officers were transferred.

The transfers released on December 15, 2020 have seen Susan Kanyange moved from the Commercial Division of the High Court to replace her Court of Appeal counterpart, Godfrey Opifeni who retires from active service in January 2021.

The changes have also seen Kaitesi Mary Lukwago who has been the deputy registrar at criminal division sent to the Commercial Court whereas Godfrey Kaweesa has been sent to Lira High Court and Thadius Ayebare Tumwebaze who has been at the Court of Appeal has been appointed as a private legal secretary to the Chief Justice.

Among the Chief Magistrates, Julius Borore Kyaka who has been in charge of Kabale has been appointed as the caretaker for Kabale High Court and Kule Moses Lubangula who has been in charge of Mityana has been sent as the caretaker for the High Court in Fort Portal and Kasese.

In the category of grade one magistrates,  Stella Maris Amabillis has been moved from Buganda road Standards Court to Luzira as the in-charge for the magistrates court among other changes.

Explaining the transfers,  Langa said some Chief Magistrates have been assigned additional responsibilities of caretaking High Court registries due to the limited number of Registrars to undertake the responsibilities. “We are still grappling with the issue of numbers, especially in the Registrars and Chief Magistrates’ ranks, and that is the reason we have not made many changes there,” she said.

“These transfers will be effective on January, 1, 2021 . The majority of the magistrates have spent three years at a given station, so we had to move them. Many judicial officers are due for transfer, but we shall have to do this in a phased manner because transfers have financial implications.”