Penalise election offenders â€" judges
May 08, 2003
Judges have called for constitutional powers to penalise election offenders
Judges have called for constitutional powers to penalise election offenders, reports Alfred Wasike.
They seek powers to disqualify and bar the offenders from holding public offices or offering themselves for election before 10 years.
Presenting nine recommendations from the Judiciary to the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), Supreme Court Justice George Kanyeihamba and High Court justices James Ogoola and Stella Arach, stuck to an eight-page text.
They recommended that Parliament create more subordinate courts to deal with the backlog of cases plaguing the Judiciary.
“There has been an outcry that persons who breach the electoral law are tried and found guilty of electoral offences and yet the courts don’t have the powers to disqualify such culprits,†Kanyeihamba said.
“Invariably, persons found guilty of election offences by High Court judges continue sitting as representatives, or holding public offices which they disgraced by the malpractices. Culprits are always permitted to contest in bye-elections caused by the malpractices for which they were found guilty.â€
They proposed that election petitions in the Court of Appeal be appealable in the Supreme Court as Uganda’s court of final resort but with the permission of the Supreme Court.
The justices refused to answer CRC questions on the allegations of rampant corruption in the Judiciary and the Auditor General’s directive to the Uganda Revenue Authority to tax judges.
They called for the amendment of the Constitution to fix their retirement age at 70 years.
They seek powers to disqualify and bar the offenders from holding public offices or offering themselves for election before 10 years.
Presenting nine recommendations from the Judiciary to the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), Supreme Court Justice George Kanyeihamba and High Court justices James Ogoola and Stella Arach, stuck to an eight-page text.
They recommended that Parliament create more subordinate courts to deal with the backlog of cases plaguing the Judiciary.
“There has been an outcry that persons who breach the electoral law are tried and found guilty of electoral offences and yet the courts don’t have the powers to disqualify such culprits,†Kanyeihamba said.
“Invariably, persons found guilty of election offences by High Court judges continue sitting as representatives, or holding public offices which they disgraced by the malpractices. Culprits are always permitted to contest in bye-elections caused by the malpractices for which they were found guilty.â€
They proposed that election petitions in the Court of Appeal be appealable in the Supreme Court as Uganda’s court of final resort but with the permission of the Supreme Court.
The justices refused to answer CRC questions on the allegations of rampant corruption in the Judiciary and the Auditor General’s directive to the Uganda Revenue Authority to tax judges.
They called for the amendment of the Constitution to fix their retirement age at 70 years.