PROFILE: Who is Justice Lydia Mugambe, the newly appointed IGG?

President Yoweri Museveni was on Friday appointed Justice Lydia Mugambe Ssali as the new Inspector General Of Government.

Mugambe takes office formerly occupied by Justice Irene Mulyagonja who was appointed as a Judge of Court of Appeal in October 2019.

Prior to her appointment, Justice Mugambe has been serving at the Civil Division of the High Court in Kampala.

She was appointed to the High Court of Uganda on 15 May 2013.

Mulyagonja’s second and last term ended on 5th July, 2020.

In January this year, Mulyagonja refused to quit her position as IGG despite being appointed and sworn in as Justice of Court of Appeal last year.

She said she was only intending to leave office when her contract expires in July.

“I am going to leave after a new IGG is appointed or when my contract ends in July,” Mulyagonja said.

Who is Justice Mugambe?

Before being appointed IGG, Justice Mugambe served as judge at the High Court of Uganda between May 2013 and September 2020. She was appointed to the High Court by President Yoweri Museveni, on 3 May 2013.

She graduated from the Faculty of Law of Makerere University, Uganda’s largest and oldest public university, with a Bachelor of Laws. The following year, she was awarded a Diploma in Legal Practice by the Law Development Centre, in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. She also holds a Master of Laws from the University of Pretoria in South Africa

Prior to her appointment to the High Court, Mugambe served as a Magistrate in Uganda’s lower courts.[3] She was appointed to the High Court of Uganda on 15 May 2013.[1] She is assigned to the Civil Division of the court.

In January 2017, Justice Mugambe delivered a judgement against Mulago National Referral Hospital, which had been sued by Jennifer Musimenta and her husband Micheal Mubangaizi, for the disappearance of their newborn baby. The judge found the hospital culpable of negligence. Mugambe also awarded the couple USh85 million (approximately US$24,000) in damages.

The ruling is hailed by legal observers and non-profit organisations in Uganda, as a watershed judgment, towards the recognition of “the rights of poor, vulnerable and marginalized women”. The ruling was nominated for the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), award in 2017.