Museveni Appoints Jane Abodo as new Director of Public Prosecution

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has today appointed High Court judge Jane Frances Abodo as the new Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The appointment of Justice Abodo comes about five months after the office fell vacant following the appointment of the then DPP, Justice Mike Chibita to the Supreme Court Bench.

The office of the Clerk to Parliament, has since scheduled for the interaction of the new DPP with the MPs on Appointments Committee on April 6, 2020 at 11:30am.

“The Appointments Committee is scheduled to interract with the following presidential nominees on Monday 6th April, 2020 in the South Committee Room, Parliament House,” reads in part the notice by Clerk to Parliament dated April 1.

The other presidential nominees that are to face the Appointments Committee for approval are; Dr Johnson Byabashaija, whose position as the commissioner general of the Uganda prisons has been renewed together with his deputy, Mr James Mwanje and the new deputy governor Bank of Uganda, Dr Michael Atingi-Ego.

Others are; Ms Irene Segawa Karugonjo as the chairperson of the newly created Leadership Code Tribunal, Mr Asuman Kiyingi as the deputy chairperson of the same tribunal, Ms Jane Okelowange, Mr Didas Bakunzi Mufasha and Ms Joyce Nalunga Birimumaaso; all as members of the new Leadership Code Tribunal.

Who is the new DPP?

Justice Abodo was appointed judge in February 2018 and posted to the Criminal Division of the High Court where she has been until her new appointment.
Before her appointment as High Court judge, Abodo was Senior Assistant DPP and headed the Anticorruption desk of the DPP.

She was also the focal person for Plea Bargaining. Prior to joining the bench, she was a state prosecutor specialising in white collar and cybercrime.

Abodo holds a Master of Laws from Trinity College Dublin (2016). In 2015, Abodo was recognized by the Uganda Law Society (ULS) as the best prosecutor of the year. Her office boasted of the highest conviction rates in Uganda.

While at the office of the DPP, for eight years, she headed prosecution arm of the Anti-Corruption Court.

Over time while in the office of the DPP, Ms Abodo grew in ranks. She started as a pupil state attorney before moving to senior state attorney, principal then attorney principal to senior assistant DPP. Hailing from Karamoja, one of the most remote regions of Uganda, Abodo is the ninth among 62 siblings.

Late last year, justice Abodo in a criminal session that sat in Entebbe, found Godfrey Wamala Troy, guilty of manslaughter in connection with the murder of the singer, real name Moses Ssekibogo and sentenced him to 14 years in jail.