Supreme Court judge, Stella Arach-Amoko dead at 69

 

By Moses Sserwanga

Celebrated Supreme Court Judge Stella Arach Amoko is dead. She was 69 years old . She  passed on at 4.00 am at  Nakasero hospital where she was being treated of cancer.

A distinguished jurist Hon. Lady Justice Stella Arach- Amoko who wrote many landmark decisions and precedents has been widely hailed for the growth of Uganda’s legal jurisprudence .

 Lady justice Arach-Amoko  joined the Judiciary in 1997 as Judge of the High Court and was elevated to the Justice of Court of Appeal in 2010. She was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court in 2013, a position she served until at the time of her demise.

Her decorated career

Lady Justice Arach-Amoko 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 13 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 and 14 April 2020, Arach-Amoko served as the chairperson of the nine-member Management Committee of Uganda’s Law Development Center (LDC) where lawyers undertake a tough nine month course in legal practice before they are enrolled as Advocates of the High Court of Uganda. 

In her career, she has presided over several cases both criminal and civil cases, election matters, and presidential election matters. In 2006 she dismissed the petition in which National Resistance Movement’s Francis Babu had challenged Erias Lukwago’s victory as Member of Parliament for Kampala Central Division.

In 2012, at the Court of Appeal, she wrote the majority opinion that nullified NRM's Faisal Kikulukunyu's victory as the Member of Parliament for Butambala County. The ruling benefited Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, of the Democratic Party.

Lawyer and Kampala Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago has described Amoko as a soft-spoken, level-headed, and venerable jurist or sage who endeavored to uphold the judicial oath under very challenging circumstances.

Family woman

Justice Arach-Amoko is married to Ambassador Idule Amoko who, as of 2017, was serving as the Deputy Head of Mission at the Uganda Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Stella Arach-Amoko is also the mother of chess player Ivy Claire Amoko, the first woman to become a Woman Fide Master in East Africa.

Editor:msserwanga@gmail.com