Alfonse Owiny-Dollo served as Deputy Chief Justice from 30 September 2017 before he was appointed Chief Justice.
President Yoweri Museveni has appointed Alfonse Owiny-Dollo as Chief Justice of Uganda to replace Bart Katureebe. Katureebe’s term ended in June, and Alfonse Owiny-Dollo continued to serve as acting chief justice.
The President also appointed Richard Butera as Deputy Chief Justice. Butera is also a member of the Judicial Service Commission.
Owiny-Dollo served as Deputy Chief Justice as of September 30, 2017, before he was appointed Chief Justice. In August 2017 he was appointed to this position, replacing Steven Kavuma, who on 29 September 2017 reached the compulsory retirement age of 70.
Top dignitaries paying tribute to Alfonse Owiny-Dollo’s appointment include Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Senior Presidential Advisor for Special Operations. Muhoozi tweeted, “I would like to congratulate our new Chief Justice, His Excellency Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo. God bless your Lord. “
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Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah also tweeted, “Congratulations your Lordship Alfonse Chigamoy Owiny-Dollo, Chief Justice designate”.
Who is Alfonse Owiny-Dollo?
Alfonse Owiny-Dollo was born on January 18, 1956, in what is now Agago County. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Diploma in Law from the Law Development Center in Kampala.
His Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution was obtained at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. Certified in Advanced Conflict Arbitration Skills from the Conflict Resolution Center in Cape Town, South Africa.
In 1988, Owiny-Dollo worked as a lawyer in the peace dialogue between the Rebel Movement of Uganda and the Uganda government.
In that capacity, he wrote the peace agreement between the government and the UPDM on June 3, 1988, at the Pece Stadium in Kullu, and was a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the 1995 Ugandan Constitution from 1994 to 1996.
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He was also a member of the parliament of Agago County at the 6th parliament (1996-2001).
During negotiations between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ugandan National Resistance Movement, from 2006 to 2008, he served as legal adviser to South Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar, who mediated the Alfonse Owiny-Dollo talks.
In 2008, he was appointed to the Ugandan High Court and served in that capacity until 2015.
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In 2015, Alfonse Owiny-Dollo was promoted to the Court of Appeals in Uganda. However, he could not immediately accept his appointment as the High Court heard a terrorism case against 13 people accused of killing 76 people in a double bombing in Kampala in 2010.
He settled the case in May 2016.
