KAMPALA – Retired Supreme Court Justice Wilson Tsekooko has died.
According to a brief communication, Justice Tsekookot died on Monday, October 14, 2019 at Norvik Hospital in Kampala, where he has been admitted.
Judiciary senior communications officer Solomon Muyita confirmed the news
“The funeral arrangements shall be communicated later,” he said.
Justice Tsekooko retired in October 2015 after serving as a justice of the Supreme Court. He has been working as a senior legal consultant with Waluku and Mooli Advocates.
He is known for being principled and a critic against the excesses of the ruling party. In 2001 and 2006 when Dr Kizza Besigye challenged President Museveni’s election in the Supreme Court, he was among the minority who ruled that the election be annulled.
In 2016, he told Daily Monitor in an interview that that the number of cadre judges making it to the bench is rising, which is undermining the integrity and independence of Uganda’s judiciary.
He asserted that some of the judgments coming from the courts today leave a lot to be desired and cast doubt on the independence of the judges.
“Yes, that thing [cadre judges] is there. It seems to be increasing because occasionally you get some of the judgments and you can’t understand they are from judges who are supposed to be independent. There are rumours some judges consult some politicians when they have cases with political implications to get a shape of the ruling. This is terrible! It is not proper,” Justice Tsekooko said.
In 1980 as a lawyer, he represented former president Milton Obote in a defamation case then candidate Museveni had filed against Obote. At the peak of the election campaign in 1980, Obote had allegedly made remarks that suggested Museveni was not a Ugandan to qualify for election. Museveni sued Obote for defamation and counsel Tsekooko had been instructed to defend Obote against the case.