President Yoweri Museveni has named Justice Bart Magunda Katureebe as the new chief justice, ending a nearly two-year wait for a substantive leader of the Judiciary.

Judge Katureebe, a member of the Supreme Court, will have his in-tray full as the leadership vacuum in Uganda’s justice system had reinforced the lack of adequate staffing, funding, soaring case backlogs, lack of independence, cohesion, and credibility.

In June 2013, former Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki retired at the age of 70 – the age limit for the position according to the Constitution – and was reappointed by President Museveni in July the same year sparking a court battle that pitted parliament and the judiciary against the executive.

The president also picked Justice Stephen Kavuma for deputy chief justice.

The absence of a CJ was the highlight of 16th edition of the judges’ conference in last January, where the judges likened themselves to sheep without a shepherd.