The long time President of the Court of Appeal, Judge President Ian Stuart Kirby is set to retire on November this year, Acting Chief Registrar of the Administration of Justice-Juliana A. Dube has revealed.
In a a press statement issued out today, the Administration of Justice expressed gratitude to Judge President Kirby;
“The Administration of Justice wishes to inform Members of the Public that the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ian Stuart Kirby will be retiring at the end of his contract on 30th November 2021.
Justice Kirby has served the Government of Botswana for more than thirty (30) years, twenty (20) years of which he has served on the bench as a Judge of the High Court, Justice of Appeal and ultimately, President of the Court of Appeal.
His Excellency the President of the Republic of Botswana will, at the appropriate time, appoint Justice Kirby’s successor in accordance with section 100(1) of the Constitution.
The Judiciary wishes to extend its gratitude for the immense contribution Justice Ian Stuart Kirby has made to the jurisprudence of our country.”
Ian Stuart Kirby, born in 1945, has served as president of the Court of Appeal in Botswana since 2010. A former private attorney and tax specialist, Kirby was Botswana’s deputy attorney general from 1990 to 2000 and served as a High Court judge from 2000 until late 2003, when he ascended to the post of attorney general. He eventually returned to the High Court bench in 2006. Kirby founded the Mokolodi Wildlife Foundation and was lead counsel for a commission that led to the creation of Botswana’s Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime.
