The Judiciary has confirmed the saddened death of Supreme Lady Justice Stella Arach Amoko.
In a statement released by the Deputy Chief Justice, Richard Butera, Lady Justice Arach Amoko passed away from Nakasero Hospital at around 4 a.m. on Saturday, June 17, 2023.
“It is with deep sorrow that I announce the death of the Hon. Lady Justice Stella Arach-Amoko, Justice of the Supreme Court, who passed away this morning at Nakasero Hospital at 4:00 a.m.Our sincere condolences go out to the family of the late Hon. Justice Stella Arach-Amoko, the Judiciary, the legal fraternity, the country, and the East African region as a whole,” reads the statement.
Justice Arach-Amoko was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court in 2013, a position she has held until the time of her death. She joined the Judiciary in 1997 as a Judge of the High Court and was elevated to Justice of the Court of Appeal in 2010.
“The Judiciary has lost an extraordinary jurist who has been a champion of justice. The funeral arrangements will be communicated in due course. May her soul rest in peace,” the statement reads.
Simon Peter Kinobe, the former president of the Uganda Law Society and member of the LDC management committee, described the late Lady Justice Arach as a mother in court.
“So sad. It’s a sad day, indeed. She was a mother in court. She was well-reasoned and grounded in the law. She was kind to me in my first years of practice. May she sing with the heavenly hosts and enjoy heaven. May her soul rest in peace,” he tweeted.
Born in 1954, Justice Arach-Amoko served in the Attorney General’s chambers from 1979 until 1997, rising from a state attorney to commissioner for civil litigation. She is married to Ambassador Idle Amoko.
In 1997, she was appointed a High Court judge, serving in that capacity until 2010.
Justice Stella Arach-Amoko 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 one of the candidates considered by the Judicial Services Commission for appointment as the Chief Justice of Uganda.
Between April 15 and April 14, 2020, Justice Arach-Amoko served as the Chairperson of the nine-member Management Committee of Uganda’s Law Development Centre. In 2010, she was appointed to the Court of Appeal of Uganda.
In her career on the bench, Justice Arach-Amoko has handled many election cases. In 2006, she dismissed the petition in which the National Resistance Movement’s Francis Babu 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.
