Justice Kasule decries corruption in Judiciary

CORRUPTION

The Court of Appeal Justice Remmy Kasule has decried corruption in the judiciary, calling upon the enactment of strict laws that will enable the Government to attach the property of people convicted with corruption-related offences.

Kasule, who gave a keynote address at the celebration of 15 years of the Legal Aid Service Providers Network (LASPNET), recently in Kampala added that a "carrot and stick approach of punishing" corrupt official must be adopted by Government if corruption within the judicial institutions is to be uprooted.

"We need to enact a comprehensive legislation on asset recovery to confiscate property of the corrupt," he said, calling upon Parliament to enact the Judiciary Administration Bill to guarantee autonomy of the judiciary and the National Legal Aid Bill to ensure that the poor and vulnerable access justice at free cost.

Kasule who retired from the bench last year, also praised Vision Group for an investigative story on corruption within the Judiciary, saying it laid bare the extent of the vice within the institution and other justice institutions in the country.

"The Vision Investigates story that exposed corruption within some courts of law in Uganda helped a lot to advance the cause of fighting against corruption," he said.

Vision Group reporters through an undercover investigation this year,  reported several acts of bribery involving prisons, courts, police personnel, and other non-court officials to enable suspects get non-cash bail, while petty offenders like street vendors who could not afford the bribes were sent to rot on remand.

The Vision Group investigation persuaded the Chief Justice, Bart Katureebe, to name a six-member team headed by the Inspector of Courts, Immaculate Busingye, to investigate allegations of corruption in the Judiciary.

The team was inaugurated in August.

The Judiciary has also witnessed a number of changes, including the transfer of former Ministry of Gender permanent secretary, Pius Bigirimana to the Judiciary to replace Kagole Kivumbi.

Recently Bigirimana pledged to implement the electronic case management system, a move corruption activists say would reduce graft within the court structure.

"We think the e-filing of cases would help a great deal in dealing with corruption. We should all be looking at zero tolerance to corruption," Dr. Sylvia Namubiru Mukasa, the executive director of LASPNET, said.