Netters,
Please read and analyse............ Otherwise keep your peace.
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From Sunday Monitor; Opinions and Commentaries September 2 - 8, 2007
Cant Odoki learn from his learned friend in Pakistan?
According to the just reinstated Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar
Chaudhry, The term justice is not to be interpreted in a narrow and pedantic
sense. It encompasses political justice, economic justice and social justice.
No individual or nation can attain [the] optimum level of their
potentialities in case of denial of political, economic or social justice. He
said this in his speech to the International Judicial Conference during the
50th anniversary celebrations of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, August, 2006.
http://www.scp50.gov.pk/cj.htm
Instead of reporting on Justice Chaudhrys inspiring battles to achieve an
encompassing justice for his country, the Sunday Monitor appeared to have
defended the indefensible failings of the Ugandan Judiciary by asserting Chief
Justice Benjamin Odoki correctly wants the House (Parliament) to seek technical
assistance when our generally unexposed [MPs] are legislating. This, we agree,
will cure the present dilemma faced by judicial officers when confronted with
laws whose interpretation in the course of resolving law suits is, at best,
impossible.(The Judiciary cannot be to blamed on its own, SM, Aug. 19).
The similarities between the present regimes in Uganda and Pakistan are
remarkable. Gen.Mseveni like Gen.Pervez Musharraf came to power through
violence; and each used the uninformed masses, who form the majority in their
countries, to legitimise their rule through referenda.
Both generals are relentlessly persecuting their leading civilian opponents
with Museveni security forces, by commission; exiling, luring back and then
arresting and charging Dr Kizza Besigye with treason. Musharraf has exiled two
former Prime Ministers, Ms Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, threatening them
with arrest on politically-motivated corruption charges if they return home.
Both generals are useful (but dispensible?) local sheriffs of the USA in its
war against Islamic fundamentalism, with Gen. Museveni taking on the Sudan and
Somalia; while Gen. Musharraf is battling both the Al-Qaeda and the Talibans.
Both generals seem to share a deep-seated contempt for the rule of law. As
Musevenis security chiefs sent armed commandos to raid the Supreme Court on
March 1, Gen. Musharraf followed on March 9 and dismissed Justice Chaudhry for
misuse of authority.
And both generals epitomise the double standards that are the hallmarks of the
commonwealth of former British colonies.
That is where the similarities between the two regimes end, abruptly, giving
way to two diametrically opposite routes taken by Justice Benjamin Odoki and
his learned friend, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
On March 10, Chaudhry led thousands of lawyers in a protest against Gen.
Musharrafs illegal action. On March 17, thousands of more lawyers in business
suits clashed with police. The following day, seven judges resigned.
On March 28, Justice Chaudhry addressed a crowd in Rawalpindi, called for the
independence of the Judiciary, and declared war on dictatorship. He toured
Pakistan for the next three months, galvanising and uniting lawyers, students,
businessmen, civil society and opposition activists.
On June 1, Gen. Musharraf imposed a two-month ban on rallies of more than
five people in the capital Islamabad; but protestors defied the ban. On July
17, an alleged government-sponsored suicide bomber struck a lawyers protest,
killing 13 people and wounding hundreds.
On July 20, Pakistans Supreme Court reinstated Iftikhar Chaudhry as Chief
Justice, holding that President Musharrafs March 9 suspension was illegal.
[Source: University of Pittsburgh, Law School] -
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/jurist_search.php?q=Chaudhry&blog_id=515&page=1
Last week on August 23, that Supreme Court declared that the exiled former
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had an inalienable right to return to his
country. And this week, Mr Sharif announced that he will return home by
September.
Thanks to Chief Justice Chaudhrys indefatigable efforts to promote an
encompassing justice in Pakistan, Gen. Musharraf is unlikely to attend the
Commonwealth meeting in Kampala. The Supreme Court is expected to demand Gen.
Musharraf removes his military uniform and contest this Octobers elections as
equals with Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto.
Chief Justice Chaudhrys exemplary actions raise several disturbing questions
about Chief Justice Odoki. Why has he abdicated his constitutional
responsibility to interpret and apply the law without fear or favour? Why did
he look on as armed bandits raided both the High Court and the Supreme Court,
acts which Principal Judge James Ogoola famously called the rape of the Temple
of Justice?
Why did he, in 2001 and 2006, affirm that both elections were conducted in
non-conformity with the Constitution, the Presidential Elections Act and the
Electoral Commission Act, and then rule that this nonconformity was not enough
to alter the outcome of the elections? Why should the opposition participate in
the 2011 elections?
Why cant Chief Justice Odoki learn from Justice Chaudhry of Pakistan and stop
Museveni from leading Uganda along the slippery slope? How will history, if not
his grandchildren judge him?
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Michael BWambuga wa Balongo
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