Principal Judge blasts Police, RDCs
Mar 22, 2009
THE principal judge, James Ogoola, has criticised the Police and resident district commissioners (RDCs) for interfering in court judgments over land disputes. <br>
By Hillary Nsambu
THE principal judge, James Ogoola, has criticised the Police and resident district commissioners (RDCs) for interfering in court judgments over land disputes.
“There has grown an insidious practice of executive impunity, involving blatant interference by executive officials (notably RDCs and the Police) in the resolution of land cases by the courts,†Ogoola said.
Ogoola, who is the administrative head of the High Court, was on Friday launching the Land Division Users’ Committee at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
The judge said the courts passed judgments after assessing the relevant evidence and analysing the applicable law.
“The Police and the RDCs take matters into their own hands. Often, they rudely and high-handedly overturn the court’s judgment and subvert the execution of the court’s orders,†Ogoola said.
It was time to speak out about the interference from the Government officials, he said.
Ogoola regretted that the free and independent Judiciary was being invaded by persons of no competence.
He called upon the Land Division Court Users’ Committee to resist the offensive invasion of the judicial process in the administration of land justice.
Justice Anna Magezi, the deputy head of the land division of the High Court, expressed concern over the numerous forgeries of land titles in the country.
Magezi expressed the need for more judges for the land division.
She also supported the use of other alternative dispute resolution mechanism for expeditious resolutions of land issues.
The registrar of the court’s land division, John Eudes Keitirima, said only two judges were handling 3,614 land related cases.
He also added that the division registry was still manually managed, which posed problems in retrieving the case files.
Keitirima said the court also lacked offices for its entire staff.
The Inspector General of Government, Justice Faith Mwondha, Kampala RDC Alice Muwanguzi officials from State House, the lands registry and the Police, chief magistrates and High Court registrars attended.
THE principal judge, James Ogoola, has criticised the Police and resident district commissioners (RDCs) for interfering in court judgments over land disputes.
“There has grown an insidious practice of executive impunity, involving blatant interference by executive officials (notably RDCs and the Police) in the resolution of land cases by the courts,†Ogoola said.
Ogoola, who is the administrative head of the High Court, was on Friday launching the Land Division Users’ Committee at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
The judge said the courts passed judgments after assessing the relevant evidence and analysing the applicable law.
“The Police and the RDCs take matters into their own hands. Often, they rudely and high-handedly overturn the court’s judgment and subvert the execution of the court’s orders,†Ogoola said.
It was time to speak out about the interference from the Government officials, he said.
Ogoola regretted that the free and independent Judiciary was being invaded by persons of no competence.
He called upon the Land Division Court Users’ Committee to resist the offensive invasion of the judicial process in the administration of land justice.
Justice Anna Magezi, the deputy head of the land division of the High Court, expressed concern over the numerous forgeries of land titles in the country.
Magezi expressed the need for more judges for the land division.
She also supported the use of other alternative dispute resolution mechanism for expeditious resolutions of land issues.
The registrar of the court’s land division, John Eudes Keitirima, said only two judges were handling 3,614 land related cases.
He also added that the division registry was still manually managed, which posed problems in retrieving the case files.
Keitirima said the court also lacked offices for its entire staff.
The Inspector General of Government, Justice Faith Mwondha, Kampala RDC Alice Muwanguzi officials from State House, the lands registry and the Police, chief magistrates and High Court registrars attended.