Museveni Eulogizes Lady Justice Stella Arach Amoko as Loyal & Diligent

President Museveni has extended condolences to the family of Supreme Court Justice, Stella Arach-Amoko.

She passed away on Saturday, June 17, 2023.

“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Hon. Lady Justice Stella Arach-Amoko, Justice of the Supreme Court. MHSRIP,” said Judiciary in a tweet.

She was a member of the Judicial Service Commission, representing Judicial Officers and also a member of the Legal Education, Public Affairs and Research Committee of the Commission. 

“May her soul rest in eternal peace,” tweeted the Judicial Service Commission.

On Sunday, President Museveni said he was also informed of the death of Lady Justice Stella Arach Amoko of the Supreme Court.

“She has served Uganda loyally and diligently for a long time,” he stated.

He added: “Condolences to her family, the Judiciary and to all Ugandans. May her soul rest in peace.”

Milly Babalanda, the Minister-in-charge of the Presidency, said the government is taking charge of the burial arrangements of fallen Justice Stella Arach- Amoko. 

“Sympathies to the family, Judiciary and Ugandans at large. MHSRIEP!” she tweeted.

Factfile:

Mary Stella Arach-Amoko (16 April 1954 – 17 June 2023) served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Uganda, from 20 June 2013 until 17 June 2023 when she died.

Career

Arach-Amoko served in the Uganda attorney general’s chambers from 1979 until 1997, rising from a state attorney to commissioner for civil litigation. 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 as a judge from 2006 until 2008, 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 15 April 2018 and 14 April 2020, Justice Arach-Amoko served as the chairperson of the nine-member management committee of Uganda’s Law Development Centre.^[4] In 2010 she was appointed to the Court of Appeal of Uganda.

In her career on the bench, Justice Arach-Amoko handled many election cases. In 2006, she dismissed the petition in which the National Resistance Movement’s Francis Babu had challenged Erias Lukwago’s victory as a 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.

Family

Justice Arach-Amoko was married to Ambassador Idule Amoko who, as of April 2019, was serving as the Deputy Head of Mission at the Uganda Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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