For well over three months, one of the most powerful chairs in Uganda’s justice system sat empty.
Since January 2026, when President Museveni elevated then-Deputy Chief Justice Dr. Flavian Zeija to the position of Chief Justice — following the retirement of Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo — the Deputy Chief Justice’s office had remained without a substantive occupant.
That gap, felt across every tier of the court system, finally closed on Thursday morning.
In a statement issued by the Presidential Press Unit (PPU), President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni announced the appointment of Justice Moses Kazibwe Kawumi as Uganda’s new Deputy Chief Justice, and Her Worship Agnes Alum as the new Chief Registrar of the Judiciary.
The announcement was carefully worded. “The Presidential Press Unit would like to inform the general public that His Excellency President of the Republic of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has appointed Justice Moses Kazibwe Kawumi as the new Deputy Chief Justice,” the statement read in part.
It added: “President Museveni has also appointed Her Worship Agnes Alum as the new Chief Registrar.”
Two names. Two roles. And a Judiciary that, on paper at least, looks more complete than it has in months.
The Man Behind the Robe: Who Is Justice Moses Kazibwe Kawumi?
He did not begin his career in a courtroom.
Before joining the bench, Justice Moses Kazibwe Kawumi built his professional foundation in private legal practice, running his own firm — Kazibwe Kawumi & Company, Advocates & Tax Consultants — where he developed deep expertise in advocacy, commercial law, and taxation.
That experience would prove foundational to the kind of judge he later became.
Kazibwe was first appointed as a High Court judge in May 2016, the same period when Chief Justice Zeija also joined the bench.
Few could have predicted then that the two men, sworn in around the same time, would a decade later occupy the two topmost positions in Uganda’s judicial hierarchy.
Before joining the appellate court, Kazibwe served as Resident Judge at the Mubende High Court Circuit, where he was credited for spearheading legal reforms, addressing case backlog, and promoting public engagement initiatives such as Court Open Days.
His time in Mubende was not administrative routine — it was hands-on, community-facing justice at its most unglamorous and most necessary.
In 2022, he moved to the Mubende High Court Circuit as Resident Judge, managing a heavy caseload involving criminal sessions — including prison sittings — commercial disputes, civil matters, and election petitions.
He also previously served as presiding judge at the Kabale High Court Circuit before his deployment to Mubende in 2022.
His tenure in Kabale alone ran for approximately six years, making him one of the more seasoned regional judges in the country at the time of his elevation to the appellate bench.
He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2024, joining the appellate bench where he has since handled both civil and criminal appeals, as well as constitutional matters.
At the appellate level, his record quickly began to speak for itself.
In a landmark Constitutional Court case around 2025, he authored the lead judgment declaring Section 10(5C) of the Land Acquisition Act unconstitutional, with the ruling emphasising that government cannot compulsorily acquire land and take possession before a court fully determines compensation disputes — a decision that protected citizens’ rights under Articles 26 and 28 of the Constitution.
That judgment alone elevated his standing among Uganda’s legal community as a jurist willing to hold the state accountable.
At the Court of Appeal, Justice Kazibwe has participated in several special appellate sessions in Kampala aimed at reducing long-standing criminal case backlogs through targeted clearance initiatives.
What the Deputy Chief Justice Actually Does
The title is lofty, but the work is structural.
Under Uganda’s judicial structure, the Deputy Chief Justice deputises the Chief Justice in the administration of the Judiciary and also heads the Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.
That means Justice Kazibwe will not simply be a figurehead waiting in the wings.
If approved, Justice Kazibwe will deputise Chief Justice Flavian Zeija in the supervision and administration of the Judiciary, overseeing both the Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.
His appointment comes at a time when the Judiciary is under pressure to tackle case backlog, election petitions, commercial disputes, and delays in justice delivery.
Given that Uganda’s elections took place earlier this year and petition timelines are already ticking, the speed of this appointment carries practical urgency beyond the ceremonial.
The State House confirmed that Justice Kazibwe’s name has already been forwarded to Parliament for vetting before his formal assumption of office.
Agnes Alum: A Career Built on Courts, One Step at a Time
While the Deputy Chief Justice’s appointment draws the headline, the second appointment is no less significant — and the woman behind it has, if anything, a more layered story.
Born in Soroti, Uganda, on October 27, 1973, Her Worship Agnes Alum has built a strong career in the administration of justice, rising through the ranks from legal assistant to Magistrate Grade One, Chief Magistrate, Assistant Registrar, Deputy Registrar, and later Registrar in charge of Magistrates Affairs and Data Management.
Her academic foundation is solid.
She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Makerere University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre, as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Administration and Management from Uganda Management Institute.
In addition, she undertook a Certificate in Anti-Corruption Studies at the International Anti-Corruption Summer Academy in Laxenburg, Austria, and a Diploma in Law and Justice Course in Denmark.
But her story does not start in a courtroom.
Before that, she briefly served as a Clerk with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Kampala in 1998, handling document delivery and filing duties.
She began her professional journey in legal practice, serving as a Legal Assistant with Muziransa-Wangola and Company Advocates in Jinja in 1999, and later with Nassiwa and Company Advocates, where her work involved drafting and filing legal documents, preparing agreements and contracts, mediation, negotiation, and general legal practice.
The shift to the Judiciary came in 2004.
She joined the Judiciary as a Magistrate Grade One in 2004 and served in several courts across the country, including Mbale, Tororo, Bugiri, Jinja, Njeru, and the Anti-Corruption Court.
Her time at the Anti-Corruption Court proved particularly shaping.
Between January and December 2015, she served as Magistrate Grade One at the Anti-Corruption Court, before being appointed Chief Magistrate at the same court, serving from January 2016 to September 2018.
She later led as Chief Magistrate at Nakawa and Entebbe — two of the country’s busiest court stations — before her career pivoted toward the administrative track.
In September 2020, she was appointed Acting Assistant Registrar at the Civil Division of the High Court of Uganda in Kampala, and later served as Assistant Registrar from August 2021, before moving to the Inspectorate of Courts where she served as Acting Deputy Registrar from June 2023 to July 2024, and Deputy Registrar from July 2024.
She also brings a rare breadth of communication reach to the role.
Alum is multilingual, speaking English, Ateso, Kumam, Lusoga, Luganda, and some Kiswahili — a range of language ability that has supported her work across different regions and communities in Uganda.
Filling a Gap That Had Grown Too Long
The Chief Registrar’s seat had not been occupied substantively for some time either.
The office of Chief Registrar fell vacant after Sarah Langa Siu was appointed a High Court judge last year, and since then, Ms. Pamela Lamunu Ocaya has been serving in an acting capacity for more than a year.
As Chief Registrar, Alum is expected to help drive automation of court processes and broader efforts to improve efficiency and accountability in the Judiciary.
In her new role, she will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the courts, managing human resources, and ensuring that the judicial registry functions effectively to serve the public.
That is no small mandate for an institution grappling with decades of structural delays.
Timing, Politics, and the Weight of the Moment
These appointments did not happen in a vacuum.
They come amid wider institutional changes following Museveni’s swearing-in for another term earlier this week.
The appointments also come at a time when the Judiciary is implementing reforms aimed at reducing case backlog, expanding digital case management systems, and improving access to justice across Uganda.
The fact that Museveni moved quickly — within days of his inauguration — signals that judicial leadership was near the top of his early priorities for this term, not an afterthought.
Justice Kazibwe and Chief Justice Zeija were appointed to the bench together in May 2016, and the two have since risen through the ranks to occupy the top leadership positions in the Judiciary within a decade.
That parallel rise — two men joining the bench in the same month and now sitting in the top two judicial seats — makes for one of the more remarkable stories in recent Ugandan legal history.
Parliament is expected to begin vetting both Justice Kazibwe and Agnes Alum in the coming days before they formally assume their respective roles.
What Comes Next
The vetting process before Parliament will be the next public test for both appointees.
For Justice Kazibwe, the Constitutional hearings will likely scrutinise his landmark rulings, his record on case management, and his vision for leading what remains one of the most consequential courts in the region.
For Agnes Alum, Parliament will weigh her administrative track record, her readiness to lead a modernisation agenda at the registry, and her capacity to work across the complex web of judicial institutions she will now oversee.
Uganda’s Judiciary has been in a state of transition — retirements, elevations, and vacancies have shuffled its leadership repeatedly in the past two years.
These appointments, if confirmed, would bring a measure of stability that the institution has not had in a while.
Whether they also bring the deeper reform that justice-seekers across the country are waiting for remains, for now, an open question — one that only time, and the work of two new officials, will answer.
