Bamwine dismisses claims of mafia in judiciary

By Hillary Nsambu

PRINCIPAL Judge Yorokamu Bamwine has dismissed as baseless allegations that there are mafias in the Judiciary. He has also denied that case court files disappear from the Judiciary.

Speaking from his chamber at the High Court main building in Kampala, the judge was refuting allegations that appeared in the print media on July 7, 2014, quoting High Court judge Anup Singh Choudry that there were mafias in the Uganda Judiciary and that court case files get lost.

Choudry, who was referring to a controversial case file in which he awarded hundreds of millions of shillings to farmers of Kaweri Coffee Plantations, was also requesting the Acting Chief Justice, Steven Kavuma to investigate its disappearance; saying that the farmers had not been refunded sh20m they deposited in court as security for costs on the ground that the file was missing.

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High Court judge Anup Singh Choudry.

However, the Principal Judge, who was flanked by the Chief Registrar, Paul Wolimbwa Gadenya, said: “We are not in the habit of misplacing or losing files. But, if any court user is told that his or her file has gone missing that person should take the matter with the management of the Judiciary.

Any aggrieved person should either contact the Chief Registrar or go straight to the Principal Judge, if necessary. The particular file that the judge was referring to as missing or lost was at the time with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) where it was a subject of investigation emanating from a complaint and; it was never lost as it had been alleged. Besides, once a judge has finished a file, he or she has no further business with it; it is free to be in the system, except if it is on judicial review,” they said in unison.

After the brief meeting in the chambers of the Principal Judge, Chief Registrar Gadenya led New Vision to his chamber where he showed the voluminous controversial case file bound together with white strings and placed at his table.