The Retired Chief Justice, of Uganda Bart Magunda Katureebe, has landed a juicy job at the Supreme Court of China as an advisory member for the next for years, the Ugandan judiciary has said.
According to the statement, the Supreme People’s Court of China (SPC) has appointed the Chief Justice Emeritus Katureebe as a member of its Expert Committee on the adjudication of international commercial disputes for the next four years.
“Bart Magunda Katureebe is appointed as a member of the International Commercial Court Expert Committee of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China for a four-year term, from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2024,” his appointment note read, in part.
The Expert Committee was established in August 2018 in order to ensure fair and effective operation of the China International Commercial Court (CICC) – an organ of SPC established to adjudicate international commercial disputes.
The committee is comprised of 31 “leaders of important international organizations, legal experts, eminent scholars, experienced judges, outstanding lawyers” selected from different countries and legal systems.
Functions of the committee include mediating international commercial disputes upon parties’ designation, providing expert opinion on applicable foreign laws and international conventions if entrusted by the CICC, and giving advice on future development of the CICC.
“Taking account of your recognised expertise and extensive experiences in legal fields, I am therefore writing on behalf of CICC to invite you as a candidate member of the Committee,” read Justice Katureebe’s invitation letter from China.
At the December 8, 2020 prestigious appointment ceremony held in Shenzhen, China, Justice Katureebe, who attended virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, made an eight-minute speech where he largely shared his opinion and experience about the operations of Commercial Courts.
“I am profoundly excited about this appointment, for it is a high-level Committee that will keep me professionally connected,” he said.
Katureebe retired as judge of Uganda in June, 2020 after clocking the mandatory age of 70, having served in the judiciary since 2006.
Altogether, Katureebe worked in the public service for a total of 36 years including eight years as a State Attorney, a minister for 13 years and 15 years in the judiciary where five of them were served as a Chief Justice.
Katureebe becomes yet another Ugandan judge who has been hired by a foreign country after Supreme Court’s Justice Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza was appointed to Sychelles’ Court of Appeal but she was unfortunately not cleared by Uganda’s Judicial Service Commission.
Earlier, Justice Duncan Gaswaga and Justice Fredrick Egonda Ntende had served in Seychelles, with the latter having served as the country’s Chief Justice.
