Judiciary boss Bigirimana defends Justice Kinobe against cadre judge claims

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Judiciary permanent secretary (PS) Pius Bigirimana has defended Simon Peter Kinobe against claims that he is a cadre judge.

His rebuttal came on March 4, 2026, during an engagement between the Judiciary and Members of Parliament on the Public Accounts Committee (Central), chaired by Mawogola South MP Gorett Namugga.

“I want to mention one thing that perceptions are perceptions. It may not be true because when a judicial officer is seated and making decisions based on evidence that has been provided. And if the evidence of that judicial officer is not satisfactory, there is room for appealing to higher courts,” Bigirimana said.

“So, I don’t want to start thinking or saying that judicial officers are taking decisions, the way they take decisions, because they are cadres. Me, I don’t know any cadre. There is no cadre in the Judiciary. All judicial officers are appointed on merit and they are doing their work according to what they see and receive,” he added.

Backlash

His comments were triggered by concerns various lawmakers, such as Patrick Guma Oshabe Nsamba (Kassanda North, NUP) raised, touching on the independence of the institution.

“You have been asking about cadre judges. The ones we call cadre judges are those who have confessed that I belong to this political party. I will give an example of one, Kinobe. You know him, he is NRM 311,” Nsamba alleged.

“There are many like that, but I have given you one. We know that they received those positions not on merit but because they profess a certain agenda that the appointing authority probably thinks they deserve to be there,” he added.   

Chipping in, Namugga stated that it is increasingly becoming clear to many citizens that the law is not as blind as is often stated but serves the interests of those in power.

So much so that she claimed that regime cronies boast nowadays that the opposition can never beat them in court, warning that this could be a dangerous precursor.

“This is not being political. That we now have cadre judges. If you want that case to be, this one must be taken to this. You heard the Masaka case, Nameere versus Nalubowa, it is a recent one. We cannot hide some of these facts. Someone is sent, I mean the honourable, reaches an extent of withdrawing a case,” Namugga illustrated.

Point of departure

However, Justice Forum (JEEMA) party president and Bugiri Municipality MP Asuman Basalirwa disagreed with their approach, arguing that it was self-defeating for MPs, whose own appointments committee vetted and greenlighted Kinobe’s appointment, to publicly question his credentials.

He said they would be shooting themselves in the foot.

“I recall the honourable, I think Leader of Opposition, if my recollection is right, put a direct question to Justice Kinobe when he appeared before the appointments committee on the issue of his loyalty and in the committee, he undertook to dispense justice in accordance with the oath that he took. On the basis of that undertaking, the appointments committee approved him, so I thought that should be on record,” he appealed.

Rather, Basalirwa said the ideal thing to do is through the Permanent Secretary (PS) Pius Bigirimana to appeal to judicial officers to abide by the oath they take on appointment.

“Because tomorrow, I will be appointed a judge, I am JEEMA. I don’t want anybody to say Basalirwa is siding with Nsamba because he is JEEMA and they are opposition,” he stated.