Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo has asked the judicial officers to be not only internally accountable for judicial services but also externally accountable to the public that they serve.
CJ Dollo, while presenting in the lecture today, September 21, 2023, under the theme “Benedicto Kiwanuka: Enhancing Judicial Accountability, Transparency, and the Rule of Law,” said that, as the Judiciary Service continues to draw inspiration and motivation from the works and service of Benedicto Kiwanuka, it can truly honour the memory of Chief Justice by affording access to justice to all in the country.
“We owe it to Chief Justice Benedicto Kiwanuka to do all that is within our individual and collective power to further advance the cause of justice,” Dollo said.
He stated that accountability is expressed through accepting responsibility for one’s actions, including a willingness to be transparent and allowing others to observe and evaluate one’s performance.
He called upon the judicial officers to be fearless in the pursuit of the law, as Kiwanuka did.
“In the pursuit of the law, we are inspired by what the Chief Justice, Benedicto Kiwanuka, stood for without fear,” he said.
He called upon all the people of Uganda, the government, and non-government agencies to join hands so that they can strive for the rule of law, access to justice, and observance of human rights for all people.
Benedicto Kiwanuka was born in Kisabwa on May 8, 1922, and died on September 22, 1972. He took a law course in Lesotho from 1960 to 1962. He became the first prime minister of Uganda and a leader of the Democratic Party, and he became chief justice of Uganda on June 27, 1971. He was murdered by Idi Amin’s regime in 1972.
