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KAMPALA, UGANDA: Supreme Court Lady Justice, Ms Stella Arach-Amoko is dead, the Deputy Chief Justice, Richard Buteera confirmed on Saturday morning.
According to reports from close family members, Justice Arach-Amoko died at Nakasero Hospital in Kampala at around 4 am on Saturday morning.
“Our sincere condolences go out to the family of the late Hon. Justice Stella Arch-Amoko, the Judiciary, the legal fraternity, the country and the East African region as a whole,” read a statement by the Deputy Chief Justice, Richard Buteera on Saturday morning.
“The Judiciary has lost an extraordinary jurist who has been a champion of justice,” Buteera added.
Justice Arach-Amoko joined the Judiciary in 1997 as a judge of the High Court and was elevated to Justice of the Court of Appeal in 2010.
In 2013, she was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court, a position she served until the time of her death.
At the time of her demise, Justice Arach was in charge of the Supreme Court since she was one of the most senior judges on the bench.
Justice Arach passed on at 4:00am Saturday morning at Nakasero hospital according to a statement by the Judiciary.
she was 69.
She was left with only one year to retire as a Judicial Officer of the Supreme Court.
Arach with vast experience in the legal profession worked previously as a State Attorney in the Attorney General’s Chambers and rose through the ranks to a Commissioner for Civil Litigation between 1979 to 1997.
She served as a High Court Judge for thirteen years from 1997 to 2010 prior to her elevation to the Court of Appeal.
Prior to this , she also served at the East African Court of Justice, from 2006 until 2008, as a judge and from 2008 until 2013, as a Deputy Principal Judge of the First Instance Division.
In 2010 she was among the candidates considered by the Judicial Service Commission who applied for appointment as the Chief Justice of Uganda.
Between 15 April 2018 until 14 April 2020, Justice Arach-Amoko served as the Chairperson of the nine-member Management Committee of Uganda’s Law Development Centre.
In her career , she has presided over several cases both criminal and civil cases , election matters and Presidential election matters.
Arach becomes the second Justice of the Supreme Court to die in less than a year.
About six months ago, the Supreme Court lost Justice Rubby Opio Aweri.
Earlier, the Constitutional Court Justice Kenneth Kakuru also passed on in Nairobi Kenya.
Source:Kampala Report and Daily Express.