Africa-Press – Uganda. The late Supreme Court judge, Cosmas Kato, will be buried at Mparo Village in Hoima City tomorrow.Justice Kato, 87, died at TMR International Hospital, Naalya in Kampala on Friday, after he succumbed to multiple organ failure, secondary to advanced cancer of the oesophagus.
The burial programme indicates that there will be a requiem Mass today at Namugongo Catholic Shrine beginning at 10am. The body will thereafter, be taken to Hoima for the vigil.
Then tomorrow, there will be another requiem Mass at the Hoima home, beginning at 11am which will be followed by burial.The father of eight children leaves behind 25 grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
“He was an upright man in all ways. He started out in the Judiciary when he wasn’t a lawyer but came very close to becoming the Chief Justice of this country,” retired High Court judge John Bosco Katutsi said.
Who was Justice Kato?
Justice Kato was a career judicial officer, who rose through the ranks up to the Supreme Court where he retired in 2003.He began his judicial career in 1965 when he ventured out as a Grade III Magistrate. Between 1968 and 1974, he was promoted to a Grade Two Magistrate. The following years, he was promoted to the position of Magistrate Grade One and later Chief Magistrate.
In 1981, he was appointed the Deputy Chief Registrar of the High Court and a year later, he was elevated to become a judge of the High Court.Between 1987 and 2001, he was the chairman of the Public Order and Security Review Tribunal.
Thereafter in 1992, he was posted to Jinja High Court, becoming the first resident judge. He was later made the Acting Principal Judge.
